2 kids charred to death as short circuit triggers fire in house

Bengaluru, Feb 10: A six-year-old boy and his three-year-old sister were charred to death in a fire that broke out due to an electric short circuit in their house in Adugodi police limits on Monday evening.

Naveen Kumar and Kanishka Rani, children of Manjunath, a goods auto driver and Sathya, a homemaker, died in a sleeping position on a cot at their third floor house at the Economically Weaker Section quarters at Lakshman Rao Nagar, police said.

Sathya, who fell unconscious after seeing the charred bodies of her children, was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment.

The incident took place at around 5.40 pm. Manjunath was away at work. Kumar and Rani were sleeping on the cot. Before going out to fetch drinking water, Sathya inserted an immersion water heater coil into a plastic pot of water, police said.

Saravan, a neighbour, said, “Sathya collected the water and started chatting with a few neighbours, forgetting that she had immersed the coil in the pot of water. We noticed thick, black clouds of smoke coming out of Manjunath’s house. Soon, we spotted flames.?We realised that a fire had broken out.”

Sathya and others rushed upstairs, but could not enter the house due to the flames and smoke.?They informed the police and the fire department.?The firemen rushed to the spot and doused the fire, after which they all could enter the house, police said.

“We started searching for the children, but only their charred bodies were found. Sathya collapsed on the floor and fell unconscious,” Saravan said.

Preliminary investigation indicated that the plastic pot exploded due to excess heat generated by the immersion coil.?There was an electric short circuit due to the explosion, leading to the fire that engulfed the house, police said. A case of unnatural death was registered by the police.

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Elusive bamboo shrimp resurfaces in Mangaluru estuary after 70 years

News Network

December 7,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 7: A rare bamboo shrimp has been rediscovered on mainland India more than 70 years after it was last reported, confirming for the first time the presence of Atyopsis spinipes in the country. The find was made by researchers from the Centre for Climate Change Studies at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, during surveys in Karnataka and Odisha.

The team — shrimp expert Dr S Prakash, PhD scholar K Kunjulakshmi, and Mangaluru-based researcher Maclean Antony Santos — combined field surveys, ecological assessments and DNA analysis to identify the elusive species. Their findings, published in Zootaxa, resolve decades of taxonomic confusion stemming from a 1951 report that misidentified the species as Atyopsis moluccensis without strong evidence.

The shrimp has now been confirmed at two locations: the Mulki–Pavanje estuary near Mangaluru and the Kuakhai River in Bhubaneswar. Historical specimens from the Andaman Islands, previously labelled as A. moluccensis, were also found to be misidentified and actually belong to A. spinipes.

The rediscovery began after an aquarium hobbyist in Odisha spotted a shrimp in 2022, prompting systematic surveys across Udupi, Karwar and Mangaluru. Four female specimens were collected in Mulki and one in Odisha, all genetically matching.

Researchers warn the species may exist in very small, vulnerable populations as freshwater habitats face increasing pressure from pollution, sand mining and infrastructure development. All verified specimens have been deposited with the Zoological Survey of India for future reference.

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