Chaman ‘petrol’ shop: Fire kills boy, injures his brothers

QUETTA: A teenage boy was burnt to death and his three brothers sustained serious burn injuries after a blaze swept through their illegal petrol shop in Chaman on Sunday. According to a Levies official, 13-year-old Ashraf Alizai along with his three brothers was off-loading petrol from a pick-up when the fire erupted. All four sustained burn injuries and were shifted to the Civil Hospital Chaman where Ashraf succumbed to his injuries. “They were selling petrol illegally in a container beside a road. Three containers and a rickshaw were burnt,” the official at Chaman Levies Station said. Fire tenders managed to extinguish the blaze after an hour long struggle. “This illegal business is common in many parts of Balochistan—including Quetta, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2014.