Thiruvananthapuram | A 65-year-old woman died here on Tuesday, a day after she allegedly set fire to herself depressed over her husband's long-term illness, police said.

Though news reports claimed that she prepared a funeral pyre in the backyard of her house at Neyyattinkara here and sat down on it, police said they are yet to confirm whether it was correct.

Police said that based on their preliminary findings, the woman had poured kerosene over herself in the backyard of her home where logs and coconut husks were kept by her to burn waste material.

"We have to confirm whether a funeral pyre was built or not," an officer of Neyyattinkara police station said.

The incident occurred on Monday morning after she returned home from the private hospital where her husband was admitted.

She suffered 90 per cent burns in the incident, police said.

An inquest was currently underway and after a postmortem is carried out, the body will be handed over to the family.

A case of unnatural death has been registered and an investigation has been launched, it added.