Rourkela, April 23: Three children, all under six years of age were charred to death yesterday.

It is believed the children were playing in the kitchen when a fire engulfed them.

Tragedy struck the family of Ato Oram, 30, a resident of Patrapalli village in Barilepta gram panchayat near Bisra, when his three children were burnt alive. The area is stone's throw from the Odisha-Jharkhand border.

Oram and his wife were at a nearby market when the accident took place.

The three children - Kartik, 5, Ritesh, 3 and one-and-a-half-year-old Ritika Oram were at home when fire broke out. The three were possibly playing at the time of the incident. Hay from a recent harvest was stacked inside a small room which caught fire and it spread in no time.

There were no senior members in the family and there was no one nearby to rescue the children. The nearest household from Oram's house is around 50 metres away.

Some villagers saw fire emanating from Oram's house but did not reality how serious it was before it was too late.

A local resident told the media that no one had realised that the three kids were trapped inside the ill-fated house. "It took time for us to realise hat the kids were inside after hearing them cry," he said.

By the time the neighbours could react and attempt to rescue the children, it became a lost cause. "The whole incident happened so fast that we could do nothing to save the children," he added.

The whole village is in a state of shock following the incident. Speaking to The Telegraph, Bisra police station inspector Prabhat Biswal, who is investing the case said: "In all probability, the kids were busy playing in the kitchen or they were trying to cook something. Accidentally, the fire caught the haystack and the children could not come out of the room."

The three bodies have been sent for post-mortem.

Electrocuted

A woman and her daughter were electrocuted at Dabugaon near Tutiguda in Nabarangapur district on Friday night. The deceased have been identified as Bati Bhatra and her daughter Jema. The incident took place when the victims were cleaning utensils at home. They came in contact with the earthing wire, causing their death on the spot, sources said.