Gas leakage: Minor dies, five injured in house fire

ISLAMABAD:

A minor burned to death and five of his family members suffered injuries when a house caught fire due to a gas leak in Sangar Town in the limits of Airport police on Tuesday morning.

Rescue officials said the gas had accumulated in the house due to a leakage and when a family member lit a matchstick, the whole house caught fire with a big blast.



People in the neighbourhood heard the blast and informed the Rescue 1122. Firemen and ambulances arrived within minutes. They put off the fire and shifted the injured family members to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims).

Police say the family had turned on the geyser at night but it went off due to low pressure, the gas accumulated in the house.

“Without noticing the gas leakage from the geyser, one of the family members struck a match and the geyser exploded,” said Investigation Officer ASI Ata Muhammad.

A Pims Burn Centre official said of the six family members brought to the hospital, 15-months-old Shehryar Zahid was brought dead.

“He was completely burnt and died on the spot,” said the official adding that his mother, Sidra Batool, suffered 100 per cent burn injuries and was critical. The other four have burn injuries bur are out of danger.

Zahid was the first child of the family. His father Mohammad Zahid had recently left for the UAE to make a living. The child was laid to rest in the afternoon but his mother, who is in critical condition, has not been informed about the child’s death.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 26^th, 2014.