Patna: Karu Chaudhary lit a small fire on Wednesday night to ward off the biting cold and went to sleep at his house in Singha village near Neemchak Bathani in Gaya district, around 100km south of Patna. His charred body was found among the remains of his small house, on Thursday morning. Two cattle also died in the incident, caused by the fire he had lit.

In a similar incident, Shibu Yadav of Larpur village near Bodh Gaya died after his house was reduced to ashes by a small fire lit inside his home to fight the chill.

Such fires and accidents due to fog and poor visibility are claiming an increasing number of lives in Bihar with winter at its peak.

Two police STF (special task force) jawans, Dhananjay Kumar Singh of Buxar and Pankaj Kumar of Nalanda, died at Shampur in Munger on Wednesday night after their motorcycle veered off the road and into a ditch. Nobody came to know about the accident till Thursday morning.

"We have already issued an advisory asking people not to sleep with unattended fires that they light in their rooms to ward off cold, as such fires could be disastrous," said Vyasji, vice-chairman, Bihar State Disaster Management Authority. "We are also starting mass-messaging through mobile phones to spread awareness."

The Authority has a bank of mobile numbers of 8 lakh people across the state, which include numbers of mukhiyas, government officials, members of Jeevika women's self-help groups, health and anganwadi workers.

Vyasji said people should use fog lights and keep the tail dippers of their vehicles on if driving in foggy conditions. He also suggested that people should not venture out in dense fog and vehicular movement should be curbed to reduce the chances of mishaps.

No death due to cold has been recorded this winter so far in Bihar, where road accidents have declined overall after prohibition.

"The number of accidents decreased in 2016 in comparison to 2015 by around 2,000 and deaths also came down by around 600," said additional director-general of police (CID) Vinay Kumar. "For 2017, we are yet to receive the final figures for December, but accidents and deaths have decreased in almost every month except May and June. We are analysing why the figures shot up in these two months. Still, the number of road mishaps and deaths in 2017 are going to be fewer than 2015."