Woman dies of burns, two kids injured after acid spills on family sleeping in field

Barwani: A 24-year-old woman was killed and her two children sustained burns allegedly after a container of acid spilled over them while they were sleeping at Mohanpura Indrapur village in Madhya Pradesh’s Barwani district early Friday.

The incident took place in an agricultural field under Rajpur police station limits. The woman, Pinki, her husband Vijay Chauhan and their four-year-old daughter Shivani and six-year old son Atharv had been living in a house built on their agricultural land. The family relied on drip irrigation for farming, which required the use of acid for periodic cleaning of the irrigation system.

Vijay had purchased acid from Rajpur for cleaning the irrigation lines. The container was allegedly kept on a rack near where the family was sleeping. The acid might have spilled from the container due to nocturnal activities of a rat or a cat. When the incident took place Vijay was out, police said.

Listening to the screams of his wife and kids, Vijay allegedly came back only to find the acid spilled over them. He rushed them to Rajpur Community Health Centre.

Rajpur block medical officer Dr Devendra Romde said, the woman, her daughter and son were brought to Rajpur Community Health Centre by her husband in a 108 ambulance around 6 am. “Pinki had sustained severe burns on her face, chest, abdomen, hands and feet. Her eyes were extensively damaged. The children also suffered acid burns on their faces,” Dr Romde told TOI.

All three were referred to the district hospital in Barwani after primary treatment. But, Pinki succumbed to her injuries before she could be shifted to Barwani hospital. Both the kids are undergoing treatment in the burn unit of the district hospital. Their condition is stable, the BMO said.

Barwani superintendent of police Padma Vilochan Shukla said, "The exact sequence of events is yet to be established. The woman's statement could not be recorded before her death and the kids are not in a condition to speak. Her body was sent for postmortem examination on Friday evening.