Two-year-old perishes in fire

Elder sister, 4, manages to escape and is in stable condition

LAHORE: A two-year-old girl was killed when a house caught fire in the Defence A area on Sunday.

The victim, identified as Fajjar, 2, her sister Nimra 4 lived with their parents in a quarter. On the day of the incident, the victims’ parents had gone to work and both sisters were inside their room.

Suddenly, neighbours heard screams of minor children and clouds of smoke billowing from the room. They rushed to the quarter and also called Rescue 1122. They observed that the whole room had been engulfed by flames.



Parents of the victim and locals tried to control the blaze. They broke the door and somehow recovered Nimra. She was admitted to a nearby hospital in stable condition. An eyewitness said the elder sister was able to escape as she was near the entrance of the room. However, her sibling was less fortunate.

Meanwhile, firefighters reached the spot on information and started fighting the fire. It took them over an hour to extinguish the flames and they rescued the surviving minor.



Police teams also reached the spot on information and took the body to the morgue for an autopsy, collected forensic evidence from the crime scene and recorded statements of eyewitnesses. Initial investigations suggested that the fire broke due to a short circuit. Police were investigating the matter further.

This was not the first incident of fire in the metropolis in which lives were lost.  On December 15, last Friday, a woman and her two sons died in an incident in Nishter Colony.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2017.