Would-be bride, four others die in Pindi inferno

Rescue workers say they were attacked by locals for allegedly arriving too late

RAWALPINDI: A would-be bride and four of her female friends died after a mysterious fire sparked in a Satellite Town house on Tuesday.

Former Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) provincial assembly lawmaker Raja Abdul Hanif, who lives in the vicinity and was a witness to the incident, stated that Chaudhry Tariq’s daughter was due to be married in two-days time and a large number of guests had arrived at his home for various wedding functions.

At around 12pm on Tuesday, residents of the area heard high-pitched screams coming from the house and rushed to the spot. When they got there, Hanif said, they could see flames peeking from all the windows on the first floor.

Rescue 1122 was called and rescuers, along with locals tried to evacuate people trapped inside the house by breaking windows of the house.

During a search of the house, rescuers found the bride-to-be and four others in an unconscious condition from one of the rooms and rushed them to the Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) for treatment.

Three of them died before they could reach the hospital while two others died during treatment.

Rescue workers said that the dead were identified as 24-year-old Sana Tariq — the bride-to-be — 25-year-old Minahil 22-year-old Naina, 20-year-old Hifza and 14-year-old Hina.



It took firefighters two hours to put out the blaze.

Firefighters said that initial investigations suggest that the blaze could have been caused by a gas heater, however, further investigations are still underway to determine the final cause of the fire.

A Rescue 1122 spokesperson, while confirming the deaths, stated that their teams reached the spot soon after they received the call.

The official added that six ambulances, five fire tenders and 25 rescuers participated in the operation.

The official added that rescue workers were also beaten up by locals and the Sadiqabad police had to be called in to control the crowd.

Eight plunge to death as fire erupts at LDA plaza in Lahore

Provincial Information Minister Fayyazul Hassan Chohan, who is also a resident of the Sadiqabad area of Rawalpindi, said that he was saddened over the loss of valuable lives.

Five injured in cylinder blast

At least five people were injured, including three children, when a gas cylinder exploded in a Rawalpindi home on Tuesday morning within the remits of the Banni police station.

Rescue officials said that 31-year-old Muhammad Masood’s family woke up on Tuesday morning as normal. Masood’s 30-year-old wife went into the kitchen to make breakfast while their three children, six-year-old Hasnat, five-year-old Hadiya and four-year-old Ibrahim along with Masood gathered at the dinner table.

At around 7:15am, when Masood’s wife tried to turn the stove on, it exploded. Rescue officials suspect that gas from the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tank had leaked and accumulated in the room and when the stove was lit, the gas combusted explosively.

The blast left the five-member family injured. They were rushed to the Holy Family Hospital (HFH) for treatment.

The intensity of the blast caused the kitchen wall to collapse completely apart from damaging household items. 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th, 2019.