Three siblings, father burnt to death in house fire

Mother, two sisters sustain burns; goods worth millions of rupees gutted in fires elsewhere in city

A deadly house fire in Kashmir Colony, Mehmoodabad left four of a family dead and three injured on Tuesday. Earlier, separate fires in a four-storey building in Orangi Town, a seven-storey building in Ranchhor Line and another in a house in Liaquatabad gutted goods worth millions.

Three siblings, one-year-old Salma, two-year-old Momo and three-year-old Hamza, died after an intense fire broke out in their three-storey house in Kashmir Colony on Tuesday morning. Their parents, Saeeda, 20, and Fayyaz, 35, and two other siblings, two-year-old Sania and three-year-old Nisha, sustained burn injuries and were shifted to Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital's burns ward. Later in the evening, Fayyaz succumbed to his injuries during treatment.

The bodies were handed over to the heirs after the completion of medico-legal formalities.

The fire broke out in a room on the house's ground floor.

Soon after, cries of people inside the house drew the attention of area residents, who began making efforts to douse the flames.

By the time firefighters reached the site, they had already extinguished the fire.

According to area residents, people inside the house were awake when the fire broke out and prior to that, one of them had stepped out to buy breakfast from a nearby shop.

He tried to extinguish the fire along with others, employing a water pumping motor for the purpose, but the fire was too intense, they told The Express Tribune.

"However, we managed to douse it, continuously throwing water with buckets," said one of them.

The police suspects that the fire was caused by short-circuit.

"All gas cylinders in the house were found intact, none of the stoves were left turned on and evidence collected so far doesn't indicate any gas leakage," said Mehmoodabad SHO Aijaz Pathan, ruling out these factors as the possible cause of the blaze.

He said the police had called a bomb disposal squad and teams from the Sui Southern Gas Company and K-Electric to the site of the incident.

"We have sought from them reports on the cause of the fire," he added.

Later, Sindh Labour and Education Minister Saeed Ghani visited the gutted house and expressed grief over the tragic incident.

Referring to speculations of the fire being caused by a gas leaking from one of the cylinders in the house, he said it was too early to ascribe the fire to it.

"Only the injured can give an accurate account of the incident," he said.

He added that efforts were being made to provide the best possible treatment to the injured and an investigation would be launched into the delay in the arrival of firefighters to the site of the incident.

Earlier on Monday night, a four-storey building near Metro Cinema, in Orangi Town, went up in flames.

After the fire department was informed of the incident, firefighters were dispatched to the site along with two fire tenders.

According to fire department officials, the fire had erupted in an electronics shop.

The fire soon spread to engulf the building's first and second floors, they said, adding that no casualties were reported in the incident as no persons were present inside the building.

Efforts to douse the fire were underway at the time of the filing of this report.

Meanwhile, a fire erupted in an apartment on the top floor of a seven-storey building in Ranchhor Line.

Firefighters reached the place of the incident with two fire tenders and a snorkel and doused the fire within half an hour.

According to fire department officials, all items inside the apartment have burnt to ashes, but no casualties were reported in the incident.

On Sunday night, furniture, timber stock, chemicals and other goods kept inside a four-storey furniture shop in Liaquatabad were gutted when the shop went up in smoke.

Firefighters reached the place of the incident with two fire tenders and launched a firefighting operation. However, another fire tender had to be sought after one of the two dispatched initially ran out of water. Later, the shop owner also called for a water tanker on the suggestion of firefighting staff.

It took an hour for the water tanker and the third fire tender to reach the site.

Eventually, the fire was doused after a struggle of three hours.

According to fire department officials, the fire tenders were dispatched from Saddar, SITE and Manzoor Colony fire stations, and the difficulties were faced due to the closure of other fire stations.

Moreover, the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board provided no assistance despite being informed of the incident, a fire department spokesperson claimed.

On the other hand, area residents claimed that they had called the fire department soon after the fire erupted, but received no response.

They said a police party of Madadgar-15, however, reached the site soon and called the fire department on another number.

The loss could have been minimised had fire department staff arrived on time, they maintained, adding that the flames died down on their own.

"All goods had burnt to ashes and there was nothing left for the flames to swallow," a resident said.

The residents urged the government to modernise the fire department so that people don't suffer huge losses.

Initial reports suggest the fire was caused by short-circuit. No casualties were reported in the incident.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 30^th, 2020.