4, 5 AND 6: Three girls die of suffocation

HARIPUR:

Three girls, including two sisters, died from asphyxiation in urban limits of Haripur, police told The Express Tribune on Friday.

Those killed were identified as five-year-old Aisha and four-year-old Zainab, daughters of Razia bibi and Shakil; and six-year-old Sana, daughter of Hanif.

Police quoted Razia Bibi, from Sikandarpur village, as saying her younger daughter was sick and she had to rush her to the hospital Thursday evening. She was forced to leave two daughters and a niece alone in the house.

One of the girls felt cold and turned on the gas heater.

The girls then went to sleep. But the blanket the girls were using accidentally fell on the heater and caught fire.

As the blanket was thick, it burned slowly, filling the room, which was closed from outside, with smoke. This caused all three girls to suffocate to death.

When Razia Bibi got home, she found smoke billowing out of the room and informed the neighbours who broke in but found the three girls had died.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th,  2016.