VILLUPURAM: Three members of a family were charred to death at Kaveripakkam near

in

in the early hours of Wednesday after an

in a bedroom exploded due to an electrical short circuit.

The deceased have been identified as K Raji, 60, his wife Kala, 52, and their son Goutham, 24.

The incident happened around 3am while the trio were sleeping in a bedroom.

According to police, the condenser of the indoor unit of the split

exploded due to an electrical short circuit. The fire from the AC spread quickly to clothes, mattresses, pillows and other articles in the room. The three

could not escape from the room. They caught fire and died.

Raji’s elder son Govardhan and his wife, who were sleeping in another bedroom, escaped unhurt.

On being alerted, fire and rescue services personnel from Tindivanam rushed to the spot and extinguished the blaze. The fire didn’t spread to other parts of the house.

The charred bodies were shifted to Government Villupuram Medical College and Hospital for postmortem.

The Tindivanam police registered a case.