A 53-year-old woman from Ganapathy in Coimbatore died of burns after fuel meant to run a generator spilled and caused a fire on Friday. Two of her relatives and a young man also suffered burns.

The deceased was identified as M. Padmavathy, a resident of KRG Nagar, who was teaching Tamil in a school in Ram Nagar.

According to the police, Padmavathy’s mother-in-law B. Ramalakshmi, 83, died on Thursday evening and the family was mourning her death. The body of the deceased was kept in a mobile cooler inside the house. A generator was hired to power the freezer due to a power outage in the area.

Police said diesel spilled on a lamp that was kept near the freezer box when S. Sriram, 20, of Ganapathy poured the fuel into the generator and the fire spread. As the fire also caught the fuel container, he dropped it and the fire spread further inside the house.

Padmavathi, her sister-in-law R. Banumathi, 50, brother-in-law B. Rajeswaran, 55, and Sriram suffered burns. After receiving a warning about the accident, fire and rescue personnel went to the scene and extinguished the flames. The four persons were rushed to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital. However, Padmavathi was declared dead on arrival at the hospital.

Police said Rajeswaran and Banumathi suffered over 60% burns, while Sriram was stable. The Saravanampatti police have started an investigation.