A woman who had suffered burns from a candle while performing puja at her home a fortnight ago died in hospital on Tuesday.

Police said Sima Dhar, 52, a resident of CR Colony in Jadavpur, lived with her daughter Esha since the death of her husband.

Her clothes had caught fire while she was performing puja on January 16. She was taken to the Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital, where she passed away.

This is the sixth reported death in the last four months in the city of an elderly citizen from burns suffered at home.

Officers at Lalbazar said small acts of negligence and lack of awareness about how to react during a fire were to blame for most of the cases.

“Elderly people are vulnerable to such accidents because their reflexes are slow compared to the young. Ideally, just like children are not allowed to handle match boxes, elderly people, too, should be prevented from getting close to any source of fire unattended,” said a senior officer at Lalbazar.

In October 2020, Dola Mitra, 63, had died of burns after her silk sari caught fire while she was performing Lakshmi Puja at home. She was alone in the room when the sari caught fire.

Chaya Nag, 74, had suffered fatal burns while cooking at her daughter’s Radha Madhab Dutta Garden Lane home in Beleghata in December 2020. An LPG cylinder leak was suspected to have triggered the fire.

Her daughter, who was near her, suffered burns on her hands.

Four days after Nag’s death, 60-year-old Manjula Dutta, a resident of Bosepukur Prantik Pally in Kasba, had died of burn injuries after her apparel caught fire while lighting a lamp during her morning puja at home.

In January, a 64-year-old woman died of burns suffered while performing the last rites of her husband in Kasba.

Also last month, 68-year-old Jayanta Bhattacharya died of burns suffered while trying to light a cigarette at his Kasba home.

Bhattacharya was alone in the room when he had lit a match and a spark fell on him, causing his apparel to catch fire, police said.