A nine-year-old girl died in a freak accident involving a makeshift swing she fashioned, using a scarf tied to a ceiling fan at her residence in Chitkul village of Patancheru.
The victim, identified as V. Sahasra, had tied a scarf to the fan to use it as a swing during power outage on Sunday afternoon. Minutes later, power was restored, causing the fan to rotate. The scarf tightened around her neck, strangling her.
Sahasra, the daughter of V. Narsimhachari, was the second of three children. At the time of the incident, her parents were away visiting their elder son at his hostel in Jinnaram, leaving Sahasra and her six-year-old younger brother, Ganeshwar, alone at home.
Upon noticing his sister struggling, Ganeshwar immediately called their grandmother living next door. The neighbours managed to switch off the fan and untie the scarf, but by then Sahasra had already succumbed.
The body was sent for postmortem and later handed over to the family for final rites on Monday. The incident has left the community in shock and serves as a grim reminder of the hidden dangers in seemingly innocent play activities.