Gas fire: Baby killed, four family members injured

HARIPUR: A minor girl died while two of her siblings and her parents were injured when a house caught fire after a blast in Kangra Colony on Tuesday.

The fire was caused by a gas leak, the police and locals said.

Kot Najibullah police informed that the family of Anwarullah, a resident of Sector No 1, Kangra Colony, went to sleep with a gas heater still burning.  At some point, the heater went out due to gas loadshedding or low pressure. It then began leaking gas.

At around 7am on Sunday morning, Anwar's wife Shahnaz Bibi, without realising that the room was filled with gas, lit a  matchstick to turn on the heaters, the room exploded with a blast and set the house ablaze.

The couple and their three daughters all suffered burns, and the three-room house was completely gutted along with their belongings.

Neighbours moved the injured to Women and Children Hospital Haripur, where doctors pronounced Kashaf Bibi, aged 7 months, dead while Anwar, Shahnaz, and their daughters Bushra Bibi, 4, and Warda Bibi, 9, were referred to ATH Abbottabad for further treatment.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th, 2017.