Padampur: In an extremely distressing turn of events, a 13 year-old girl was rescued with severe burn injuries from a football field in Padampur area of Odisha's Bargarh district here today. This is the fifth such incident within a month after four similar deaths grabbed headlines across the State.

The suspected suicide bid was reported from Phiringmala village within Gaisilet police limits early in the morning at around 7.30 am. 

The girl, Class 8 student, was found in a critical, half-charred state by neighbours in a field just behind her house. Seeing her engulfed in flames, they rushed to her rescue and doused the fire before rushing her to the nearest government hospital. It is suspected that the teenager attempted self-immolation by dousing herself with petrol. Speculations are also rife as to how the girl could access petrol at a time when the government has banned sale of petroleum products in plastic bottles or any unauthorised packaging. 

As per preliminary reports, the victim was studing in a residential school in Saplahar in Paikmal block. She had come to her uncle's village for the holidays. While the exact reason behind the suspected self-immolation attempt is being investigated, sources in the family said a few days back, the girl had shared about a fellow classmate saying something hurtful to her. Villagers who witnessed the horrific incident said they saw the girl in flames and rushed to save her. They called the 108 ambulance but it reached an hour late, they said. 

Police, on getting information, reached the spot and rushed the girl to the hospital along with family members. But given the severity of the burn injuries, she was later shifted to VIMSAR in Burla. The victim has suffered almost 70 per cent burn injuries. Since there is no burn unit in the hospital here, she is being immediately shifted to VIMSAR, Burla. Investigation has been initiated to probe the incident from all angles and rule out any foul play. A case has been registered, they said.

This is the latest incident following four deaths of women by burning in a span of one month. 

On July 12, a 20-year-old female student of Fakir Mohan College in Balasore set herself ablaze n her college campus over alleged sexual harassment. She died at AIIMS Bhubaneswar two days later. Barely after a week, a minor girl was allegedly set on fire by three miscreants in Balanga in Puri. She was shifted to AIIMS Delhi in a critical state where she succumbed on August 2. The same day, a 26-year-old woman died while her male companion sustained burn injuries after they allegedly self-immolated themselves in a paddy field at Khiching in Mayurbhanj district. Before the public outrage could abate, a third-year undergraduate woman college student’s charred body was found from her house in Kendrapara district's Pattamundai police limits.