Hiding under a table was her undoing

HYDERABAD: The moment she heard desperate cries for help and saw people run helter-skelter, M Sandhya did what any girl of her age could think of. Scared, the 10-year-old rushed inside her hut, closed the door and hid herself under the table to save herself, which eventually led to her death.The poor girl, instead of running away from her hut, perhaps thought that she would be  safe if she locked herself inside the hut but fate willed it otherwise and she died in the major fire that broke out at Sainagar in Nagole on Saturday.“Frightened of people shouting, crying and running out of their huts after the fire spread rapidly,  my daughter suddenly went into the hut, closed the door and  tried to hide herself under the table. Eventually the hut also got gutted and she was burnt alive.” said M Jayamma, the inconsolable mother of the Class VII student.Another woman, G Indiramma (28), whose husband had died of viral fever two days ago,  was thoroughly shaken by the second major fire in the area and and was unable to speak. Seven-years-old G Sai Lakshmi, one of her three daughters, said, “I do not know how to console my mother. We lost my father just two days ago and now we have lost everything in the fire,” she said, hugging her two younger brothers.K Siva Kumari (35) said jewellery worth Rs 50,000 and Rs 40,000 in cash, kept for daughter’s wedding, were gutted. Another victim,  K Pratap, an MBA graduate, said all his certificates and important documents were  reduced to ashes.