Three Indian teenaged siblings from Telengana were among four people killed on Sunday evening when the house of the family that was hosting them for Christmas celebrations at Collierville in the south-eastern US state of Tennessee caught fire,according to media report.
“A fire broke out around 11 pm at the Coudriet home. The Coudriet family was hosting, housing, and celebrating Christmas with the Indian teenagers attending an Academy here in the States.All the three siblings, Sathwika Naik, 16, her sister Jaya Naik, 14, and brother Suhan Naik, 15, from Telangana’s Nalgonda district, were killed in the fire along with their hostess, Kari Coudriet, 46.
However, Kari’s husband Danny and their son Cole survived after they could able to make it out of the home by jumping from a second storey window though both hospitalised for treatment of smoke inhalation.Hopefully both will make full recovery.As reported,When Danny pleaded for help a neighbour rushed to the scene and tried to go up to the second storey with a ladder to rescue those trapped in the two-storey house.
As said by Collierville Fire Chief Buddy Billings ‘The fire started just before 11 pm on December 24 and took 20-30 minutes to come under control’. Heavy smoke was billow from the home when fire-fighters reached the spot, as reported by the colliervilleherald.net.
American daily USA Today reported that the Naik teens were missionaries in partnership with the Collierville Bible Church (CBC) and were studying at a school in Mississippi. The Coudriet family invited them to stay in their home during winter break from school and the three could not go India. The father of the three, Srinivas Naik, a pastor, also associated with CBC, had returned to Nalgonda last year after working in the US. The children had stayed back to continue their studies at Mississippi’s French Camp Academy.
Srinivas and his wife, Sujatha, could not be contacted. However it is reported that they flew to the US right away after coming to know about the happening. Local media says investigation is still on to find out the root of the incident.
