Cat in China accidentally turns on cooker and sets house on fire, causes Rs 11 lakh damage

The cat escaped unhurt from the incident and the house owner chose to not react violently to the incident and took the blame on herself for not shutting off the power to the cooker. (Representational Image).

A cat in China made the headlines after accidentally turning on a cooker and setting the house on fire, a South China Morning Post report said. The incident took place in the Sichuan province of the country and caused the owners damage of 100,000 yuan (approximately Rs 11 lakh).

The house owner, named Dandan, received a call on April 4 from the property management staff in her compound, who said that her house was on fire. She rushed to her flat and realised that her cat, named Jingoudiao, was behind the blaze, which left the entire first floor of her loft, burnt.

The incident took place when the cat was playing in the kitchen and accidentally turned on the induction cooker, after stepping on the appliance's touch panel.

Firefighters were called in for help and found the feline hiding in a cabinet upstairs, covered in ash. One of the firefighters said it was the first time that he had been asked to teach a cat and admitted that he had attempted to interest the local fire station dog in safety issues, but it did not work.

The cat escaped unhurt from the incident and the house owner chose not to react violently to the incident and took the blame on herself for not shutting off the power to the cooker and vowed to be more careful, with regards to fire safety, in future.

The incident generated a lot of laughs on local social media, where users shared their own experiences with animals.

"My cat just keeps flushing the toilet, leaving me to pay big water bills," one user wrote.

"Thank you. I just switched off my electric cooker. I have a naughty cat who goes everywhere in my flat,” another user wrote.

Also read: Dead woman in Russia partially ‘eaten by her 20 cats'. Police discovered body after 2 weeks