Ullal: A major fire mishap was prevented in Plama Nest, a 13-floor apartment near the Kshema Hospital in Deralakatte, on Tuesday morning, thanks to the timely action taken by the manager of the apartment.

The fire broke out as two dental college students who resided in the apartment number 202 left a hot iron on a bed before hurrying to college to attend a workshop on Tuesday morning. The instrument was still hot although the girls had switched it off.

Mohammed Shahid Shafique, a resident of Kuttar, who was the manager of the apartment, is learned to have sensed a smell of smoke near the apartment. When he went looking for the source, he noticed smoke erupting from the students’ house.

Shafique immediately called the girls back to the apartment and got the door opened, which helped them put out the fire immediately.

More than 100 lives are said to have been saved due to Shafique’s timely action.

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Melbourne (PTI): Australia skipper Pat Cummins' chances of playing at next year's T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka are "quite grey at the moment" as he battles a back stress issue that has affected his participation in the ongoing Ashes series against England.

Cummins returned to play the third Ashes Test in Adelaide after missing the opening two matches, picking up six wickets to help Australia clinch the series 3-0.

However, the Australian Test and ODI skipper will take no further part in the series and even his participation at the T20 World Cup is also uncertain. All-rounder Mitchell Marsh is Australia's T20I captain.

"Looking forward to the World Cup, whether he will be there or not, I can't really say. It's quite grey at the moment. We're hopeful," head coach Andrew McDonald was quoted as saying by 'ESPNCricinfo'.

The fast bowler was diagnosed with a lumbar stress reaction during Australia's tour of the West Indies in July. He underwent rehabilitation before being cleared for a carefully managed return in Adelaide.

"He's pulled up fine. He won't play any part in the rest of the series and that was a discussion that we had a long time out around his return," McDonald said.

"We were taking on some risk and people that reported on that would understand the risk associated with that rebuild. We've now won the series and that was the goal.

"So, to position him for further risk and jeopardise him long-term is not something that we want to do and Pat's really comfortable with that," he added.

The T20 World Cup is scheduled to begin on February 7 across India and Sri Lanka with the summit clash set for March 8.

Australia's first match is on February 11 against Ireland at Colombo. Although Cummins captains the Test and ODI teams, all-rounder Mitch Marsh leads Australia in the shortest format.