Tragic incidents: Fire engulfs house, kills four members of family

KARACHI:

A family of four burned to death when a fire broke out in a house on Saturday while another fire killed two people and injured three.

A fire started inside a double-storey house located in Block 15 of Federal B Area at nearly 2:45am. The fire broke out on the upper floor where a family of four was asleep in their room.

Neighbours tried to extinguish the fire by themselves and only called the fire department after failing to do so.

"We tried to put the blaze out by using water from the water machine," one of the neighbours, Tauqeer, told The Express Tribune. "We could not go to the upper floor of the house due to the smoke and flames."

Two fire tenders and rescue personnel reached the scene and extinguished the fire after working tirelessly for more than an hour. All four members of the family were severely injured when they were rescued. "They were almost dead when we broke down the door," said one of the firefighters. "It seemed that they had tried to save themselves before falling unconscious."



The injured — 38-year-old Asim Siddiqui, his 35-year-old wife Erum and two children, seven-year-old Shahrukh and three-year-old Quratulain —were shifted to a private hospital but succumbed to their injuries. The doctors, while quoting initial findings, claimed that despite suffering burn wounds, the victims had died due to suffocation.

Siddiqui lived on the first floor with his brother, Atif, while his parents lived on the ground floor. His brother, sister-in-law and niece were also asleep in another room on the floor when the fire broke out  "Upon hearing the commotion, I opened the door of my room but was unable to step outside due to the intensity of the flames," said Atif. "I jumped down from the backdoor in my room along with my wife and daughter." Atif also added that there was a backdoor in Asim's room but it was blocked by a cupboard.

The police, after conducting an inquiry, believe that the fire broke out accidently. "It was due to a gas leakage," said Jauharabad police station additional SHO Muhammad Rashid. The officer added that the police are waiting on a final report about the cause of the fire that will be filed by the fire brigade department.

The funeral prayers of the deceased were offered at Aqsa Masjid after Zuhr prayers, after which they were laid to rest in the Yasinabad graveyard.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2014.