Fire accidents: Four dead, one injured in two incidents

MULTAN/ FAISALABAD:

Four children were burned to death and a man injured in separate fires in Multan and Faisalabad on Friday night and Saturday.

Yarn stock worth hundreds of thousands of rupees was burned in a third fire in Faisalabad.

In Multan’s Basti Malook area, Farhan, Adnan, Farhat and Rizwan, aged between five and 10, were burned to death in their sleep in a fire reportedly caused by a lantern left burning in the room.

Father Karam Hussain told The Express Tribune that he and his wife had gone to Kharala to attend his father’s funeral when the incident took place.

He said four of his five children were sleeping in the room burned in fire. He said his fifth child was asleep in the other room with her grandmother.

The fire was put out by neighbours who had been drawn to the scene by the children’s grandmother’s cries.

Salman, a witness, said fire had spread all over the room when they gathered at the scene. “We tried our best but could not rescue the children alive,” he said.

A man was injured and yarn stock worth hundreds of thousands of rupees bruned in two fires reported in Faisalabad on Saturday.

Muhammad Umar was taken to Allied Hospital with severe burn injuries he had suffered in fire at his stone grinding mill in Ghulam Muhammadabad area. Doctors treating him described his condition as critical.

Fire fighters said fire started at the mill in Chohar Majra Chakkianwala Chowk as Umar had switched on the machinery to grind stones on Saturday morning.

In another incident, yarn stock was burned at a godown in Jhang Bazaar area.

Fire fighters said fire at Sheikh Yaseen’s godown in Ayub Colony on Jhang Road was caused by an electric short circuit. It took fire fighters more than four hours to extinguish the fire before it could spread to neighbouring shops. No casualties were reported in the incident.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12^th, 2012.