A disabled woman died after her Plutaluang home burned in a fire suspected to have been started by a jumble of electrical wires outside.
The body of Non Jaitiangtae, 57, was pulled from the ashes of the house in the Siprapat old market community at the 10th-kilometer marker of Sukhumvit Road Feb. 11.
Three fire engines needed about an hour to extinguish the blaze, which was complicated by the burning of numerous power poles and lines nearby. The event set off panic among neighbors thinking the fire would spread.
Firefighters attempt to extinguish the blaze, but were not in time to save the disabled woman trapped inside.
Samruay Samutrapaoraya, the victim’s 59-year-old husband, said he lived in the house for 40 years, the past 10 of which with his wife. She had a stroke six months ago and was paralyzed.
Neighbors reported he tried to intervene in the fire-fighting several times to have firemen jet water into holes near when his wife’s body laid.
Samruay, who works as a pork vendor, said he had gone to work as usual, but about an hour after leaving saw flames coming from the direction of his house.
Police Lt. Pornchai Luapol said the house was covered in power lines and, combined with its age, likely was set afire by a spark from one of the cables. Fire investigators will look more closely into the cause.
The Chonburi Red Cross, meanwhile, met with Samruay the day after the fire and gave him cash and supplies to get on his feet while also consoling the grieving husband and pledging future assistance.
