KOLKATA: Some quick thinking by a laundry owner and an act of bravery by a sub-inspector and a civic volunteer from Kasba Police saved a 10-year-old girl's life on Christmas.
Pratyusha Mondal had come to the church in Picnic Garden during the prayers, and her clothes accidentally caught fire from the candles. SI Bimal Pramanick and civic volunteer Pulin Das, on duty at the church gates, used their bare hands and woollen apparel they were carrying to douse the flames while laundry owner Chandrakanth Baitha helped by pouring water on the child.
The girl escaped with 10% burns and was taken to a hospital on Bypass. Her family then shifted her to ESI Hospital in Maniktala. "The girl's clothes had caught fire from a candle while she was taking a selfie.
Finding no other alternative, we extinguished the fire by using our clothes. Baitha then brought a bucket of water from his shop next to the church and poured it on the child. The church authorities arranged for blankets, and we took her to the nearest hospital," Pramanik said.
The girl lives barely 12 minutes from Church of Our Lady of Vailankanni and had come to attend the Christmas prayers. There were around 1,200 people in attendance.
"She tried to light a candle when her clothes caught fire. She was not taking a selfie," said the girl's father Sanyasi Mondal. Both Pramanick and Das sustained minor burns and were treated and discharged from a local hospital. Kolkata Police plans to reward them.
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