SIRAHA: A teenage girl was killed while her mother escaped injured from a house that caught fire in Karjanha Municipality-4 of Siraha district on Thursday night.

The deceased has been identified as 15-year-old Chunchun Kumari Nayak and injured as her mother Asha.

According to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Santu Jaisawal at Siraha District Police Office, a team of security personnel deployed from Mirchaiya-based Area Police Office (APO) reached the incident site and contained the house fire with the help of locals. Police rescued Asha who suffered burns in her body, however, her daughter succumbed to burn injuries, DSP Jaisawal said.

The mother and daughter were sleeping in the same room of their tile-roof house with bricks and mud wall that caught fire, at Bastipur in Badaharamal area, at around midnight, police informed.

The house is located at a distance of around 250 metres south of the East-West Highway.

Meanwhile, the injured has been receiving treatment at Phul Kumari Mahato Memorial Hospital in Karjanha while preparation is on to send the body of the deceased to a hospital in Siraha for the postmortem, DSP Jaisawal informed.

According to locals, someone may have torched the house targeting the teenage girl who was believed to be having a love affair with someone.  

The preliminary investigation points to electrical short-circuit as the cause of the blaze, the DSP said.

Meanwhile, an investigation into the incident is underway, said police.