Bengal has been battered by heavy rain since Sunday night
Three members of a family, including a 10-year-old boy, were found dead in a waterlogged home at Khardah near Kolkata on Tuesday after a day of heavy rains, with authorities suspecting electrocution was the cause of death.
While one of the victims, a man, appeared to have been killed while trying to plug his cell phone into an electrical socket to charge it, his wife and son may have died trying to save him,
Their 4-year-old son sitting on the bed cried for help, prompting neighbours to call authorities.
Raja Das and his family were living in a housing colony that had been waterlogged for days, even before the weekend rains.
All three were declared brought dead at the hospital. The incident took place at Khardah, near Barrackpore, about 30 km from Kolkata.
Southern districts of West Bengal, including Kolkata, were battered by heavy rains since Sunday night and most of Monday. According to the weather office, Kolkata and surrounding areas saw almost 160 mm of rain over Sunday-Monday, the third-highest this century.
Many areas of Kolkata and those in other parts of the state were flooded affecting daily life.
Several trains were terminated before their scheduled stops or cancelled entirely on Tuesday due to the rainfall and subsequent waterlogging at Kolkata station in Sealdah Division and Tikiapara yard.
Several Howrah-bound trains were also short-terminated at Dum Dum Junction or Kankinara while many others short-originated at Sealdah instead of Kolkata.
According to the weather department, the movement of cyclonic circulation from North West Bay of Bengal to Gangetic West Bengal, Kolkata, and its adjoining areas has caused heavy rainfall.