A 65-year-old woman died after a fire broke out in her room on the first floor of a two-storey residential building in Garfa early on Monday, police said.

Wrapped in a blanket, Baby Mandal was asleep when the fire started, the police said.

Fire services department officers said the room’s windows were closed. “Smoke trapped in the room could have caused asphyxia before the flames engulfed her,” said one of the officers.

Police said the woman was sleeping in one of the first-floor bedrooms of the house on Kalitala Main Road while her daughter-in-law and grandson were sleeping in an adjoining room.

Around 1.10am, neighbours heard screams of the daughter-in-law and the grandson who were trying to jump off a window.

Neighbours called the fire brigade who rescued the mother and son.

The elderly woman in the other room was, however, trapped and could not come out of the room in time.

By the time fire-fighters entered the room she was unconscious.

She was declared dead at MR Bangur Hospital.

“After we reached the spot we found a woman and her son trying to jump off a window. We rescued them. The flat was filled with smoke. We had to break the windowpanes to let the smoke out. After entering the flat, we found the body of an elderly woman in one of the rooms. She may have died of asphyxiation,” said a senior officer of the fire services department.

The cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained till Monday evening.

Mandal’s son was not at home on the night of the fire.

Four fire tenders doused the flames.

This is not the first time a Calcuttan has lost life being trapped inside his or her home on a winter night when most prefer to keep the doors and windows locked to keep the cold out.

In the majority of such incidents, the smoke gets trapped inside the house and often causes the death of the occupants of the room irrespective of the fact that the flames reach the person trapped in the room or not.

Senior police officers said it was advisable to keep at least one window open for ventilation and to prevent trapping of smoke in case of a fire.