Widow died after sari caught fire

Cardiff Coroner's Court heard the back of Mrs Gopal's sari had caught fire

A retired doctor died a month after her sari caught fire from a gas element in her kitchen, an inquest has heard.

Hemalatha Gopal, 76, from Cardiff, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease, had wandered into the kitchen while her live-in carer was in the bathroom.

Mrs Gopal, a former gynaecologist, suffered severe burns across her upper body in May. She died a month later of septicaemia caused by the burns.

Cardiff Coroner Mary Hassell recorded a verdict of accidental death.

The inquest heard live-in carer Thobekile Melisa Maseko had left Mrs Gopal, a widow, watching television in another room while she went to the toilet.

She had been cooking chicken in a pan of water in the kitchen at the house in Pencisely Road, Cardiff when the incident happened on 23 May.

Ms Maseko said: "When I was in the toilet, I heard screaming.

"I came out running. Then I found her actually on fire."

Ms Maseko told the hearing Mrs Gopal had run back into the living room and she had seen the back of her sari was alight. She wrapped a towel around her to extinguish the flames and removed the sari.

Mum had 37% burns. Perhaps in a younger person it wouldn't have been so serious Kishore Gopal

"The sari was nylon, so it caught fire everywhere within a few minutes," she added.

Mrs Gopal was taken to the University Hospital of Wales and then transferred to a specialist burns' unit at Morriston Hospital in Swansea.

She had severe burns across her back, chest and arms, and underwent skin grafts but died on 26 June from septicaemia caused by her injuries.

Kishore Gopal, who travelled from London at weekends to care for his mother, told the inquest her age may have contributed to her death.

"Mum had 37% burns. Perhaps in a younger person it wouldn't have been so serious," he said.

Ms Maseko said at nights she had been locking the kitchen door before going to bed in the two months before Mrs Gopal's death after the widow had put a glass of juice on a lit gas ring during the night.

However the coroner told the court she did not think Mrs Gopal was trying to use the cooker when the fire started.

She said: "The fact that the sari caught fire from the back suggests to me she wasn't doing anything at the stove when that happened.

"She was simply in the kitchen, and perhaps turned a little too quickly and the sari got caught in a draught and caught fire on the lighted gas ring.

"It was bad luck she was close enough for it to set fire."