Bhubaneswar, Jan 17 (IANS): An elderly man suffocated and six others were hospitalised in Odisha's Kandhamal district Tuesday after a fire they kept in their room to warm themselves resulted in lack of oxygen, police said.
The mishap occurred at Baliguda town, about 300 km from Bhubaneswar, where the members of a family were sleeping in a room without proper ventilation, police officer R.N. Barik told IANS.
Some neighbours spotted smoke early morning and broke into the room. All the family members were immediately taken to a nearby hospital where the doctors declared 70-year- old Arakhita Patra dead, he said.
The district of Kandhamal is in the grip of intense cold with some areas recording a minimum temperature of less than three degrees Celsius.