TENALI: A village volunteer rescued two elderly people and four children who were trapped in a fire. Not just saving them, he braved the fire, brought out a gas cylinder from a burning hut, and avoided a major accident and loss of life on Sunday.

The incident took place at Rompicherla village in Tenali revenue division in Guntur district. As per reports in a small hutment there were twelve thatched huts in Rompicherla where few poor people lived. While four of them were close to each other the rest of them were far away.

On Saturday morning, a live wire fell from an electricity pole onto one hut and sparked a fire. The fire then spread to two other huts adjacent to it.

Bojja Sivakrishna, a village volunteer who was passing by swung into action and rescued two old men and four children from two of the huts and saved their lives. Not stopping there, he was told about a gas cinder which was in one of the huts . Though the hut was locked , he managed to open the door and brought out the gas cylinder inside it at the nick of time. Had the volunteer not done so, the gas cylinder would have exploded and the fire would have spread to the other adjoining huts and resulting in loss of life.

In the process, Sivakrishna was seriously injured when his hands and body were burnt in the fire. The locals immediately rushed him to a private hospital in Narasaraopet. YSRCP Narasaraopet MLA Dr. Gopireddy Srinivasa Reddy who came to know about the matter, rushed to the hospital and appreciated Sivakrishna for rescuing the villagers. He promised to pay for all his medical expenses in the hospital.

Speaking on the occasion the MLA said,"This is a testimony to the fact that the system of volunteers introduced by AP Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy was meant for the support of the people and many like Sivakrishna are all part of this system," he said.

Speaking to Sakshi, village volunteer Sivakrishna said that he heard people shouting and when he came out, he saw fire raging in the hamlet. There were old people and small children in the burning hut. I rescued them and immediately removed the lock in the burning hut and brought out the cylinder. My hands, fingers and parts of my body caught fire. I fainted by the time I came out. Locals rushed me to Narasaraopet Hospital in a car,'' he said. Putting it rather humbly, that as a human being and in virtue of being a village volunteer,Sivakrishna said that he just did his duty. The hutment dwellers were grateful to Sivakrishna for putting his life at risk and saving them.