Seven of a family perish in deadly fire

HYDERABAD:

The blaze from firewood, lit for a warmer night in sub-zero temperature, burnt to death seven members of a family in the hilly tourist resort, Gorakh Hills, in Dadu district.

The flames engulfed the thatched hut in which the family of Jhando Alkani, a herdsman, lived. The incident happened past midnight around 1:30am on Friday.

The fire consumed Alkani's wife, 43-year-old Sharifa, daughters 14-year-old Moomal, three-year-old Zarina and two-year-old Sakina and sons eight-year-old Barkat, five-years-old Maru and four-year-old Waris. "The bodies look like a pile of coal. They can't be identified," Dr Zubair Ahmed Panhwar, who travelled from Johi town to Gorakh Hills to check the deceased for identification, told the local reporters. Alkani was also in the hut but he survived. "I tried to put out the fire but there was no water," he told the media. Alkani's brother, Faiz Muhammad alias Faizu Alkani, is a watchman at the government-owned restaurant.

DSP Nazeer Solangi of Johi subdivision said that the firewood was burnt at a little distance from the hut. The police believe that the incident appears to be accidental. Meanwhile, Faizu said the family will not bury the deceased without identification or a post-mortem.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 12^th,  2015.