Four siblings, cousin asphyxiated

Smoke from coal fire devastates Gujrat family.

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GUJRANWALA:

Five children, including four siblings, died due to smoke from coals burned for warmth in their home during cold weather in Gujrat.

According to local officials the father of the siblings is employed abroad.

Shafiq's four children and wife lived in a house near Bakra Mandi on Shah Jahangir Road in Gujrat.

Thirteen-year-old Laiba, 11-year-old Hashim, 10-year-old Hadi and six-year-old Hanan were at home with their cousin Salim Fayyaz who was spending the winter holidays with them when they suffered asphyxiation.

The mother of the siblings, Tayyaba, had gone put to buy some household items.

The children burned coal to keep themselves warm during gas load-shedding. Plastic shopping bags were also placed on the coals.

The excessive smoke emanating from the fire suffocated the children and they fell unconscious.

When the woman returned home, she saw smoke in the room.

She opened the door and found the children unconscious.

Rescue teams arrived at the spot after being informed about the incident.

The children were taken to the Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Hospital where doctors confirmed that all five of them had died.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz expressed deep sorrow over the incident and instructed the local administration to support the parents of the victims.

The funeral prayers of the five children were offered in their village amid widespread mourning.

Several local officials attended the funeral prayers and condoled with the bereaved family.

The mother of the four children said the victims had ignored coals in the room because of the cold weathet.

When she returned home, she found the children unconscious in the room.

Doctors said initial investigations had shown that the children had died of suffocation.

Gujrat City Superintendent of Police Riaz Naz said the police would investigate the incident to confirm the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Earlier, in January 2022, five people died of suffocation in Lahore. The victims went to sleep at night after lighting fire to keep themselves warm but didn't wake up in the morning. At least four people, including three workers, died in two separate incidents on Tuesday (January 11).

The first case was reported in Sattokatla where three labourers, who had been engaged in construction work, went to sleep at night in an under-construction house in NFC society in Kahna after turning on a heater.

Reportedly, they died during the night due to asphyxiation.

In the other incident, which was reported in Gulgasht Town, a petrol pump manager identified as Naeem went to sleep after lighting wooden sticks. Reportedly, he was asleep while the fire flared up and his quilt caught fire. As a result, Naeem sustained burn injuries.

The fifth death was reported in Lytton Road on Friday. The victim Waqas went to sleep at night but did not turn off the heater.

Rescue 1122 statistics showed that at least 4,000 cases of fire were reported in Lahore only last year. The data showed that the number of people dying of suffocation was higher than the number of people dying of burn injuries.