A 75-year-old man was burnt alive and his wife sustained burns when their thatched house went up in flames at Paliyana near Tharuvana in Wayanad on Tuesday around 6 p.m.
The Vellamunda police identified the deceased as Vellan of the Thenothummal tribal settlement at Paliyana. His wife Theyi, 70, was admitted to the Wayanad Medical College Hospital with burns.
Vellan, who was suffering from age-related ailments, was reportedly surrounded by the inferno and charred to death. Their four children were living far away from the settlement.
The exact reason for the fire is yet to be ascertained, but it is suspected that the flames from a kerosene lamp caused the blaze, the police said.
