KARACHI, Feb 13: Three sisters were burnt to death when a fire swept through huts on the outskirts of the city in Gadap Town early Wednesday morning. Their mother desperately tried to pull them out of the raging blaze — and sustained serious burns in the process — but failed to rescue them.
Witnesses and officials said the fire destroyed all the 11 huts set up mostly by Afghan refugees near Jannat Gul Town adjacent to the Lyari Expressway behind Al Asif Square in Sohrab Goth. The city saw the outbreak of three more fires, in Manzoor Colony, Ramswami and Sharea Faisal.
The Central Fire Brigade’s control room registered the Gadap Town fire outbreak time at 4.46am.
Though the police authorities saw the early morning fire as an accident, the town administration did not rule out the possibility of arson or ‘an external factor’, which cost the children their lives and destroyed the poor families’ dwelling places.
An eyewitness said the fire created panic among the residents, who left for safer places in the cold weather, leaving behind the family of Sher Ahmed, who was not woken by the neighbours when the fire broke out.
“They [Sher Ahmed’s family] woke up on their own and we believe it was too late to get out of such a fire,” said a fire department official, who was accompanied by three fire trucks used in the operation.
He said the adults of the family rushed out of the hut but there was a strong possibility that the three girls left sleeping inside might have fallen unconscious due to suffocation.
“Their mother, screaming and shouting for help, rushed through the blazing hut to rescue her daughters and pulled one of them out. But she herself sustained serious burn injuries and fell unconscious,” he added. “When she regained her consciousness, she again tried to jump into the fire, but area people restrained her from endangering her life,” he said, quoting area people, who gathered there to help put out the fire on their own before the fire tenders reached the spot.
When the firefighters entered Sher Ahmed’s burnt hut, they took out the critically burnt minor girls – seven-year-old Fazila and three-year-old Zarina. They were rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital with their elder sister,10-year-old Aaiza.
As the doctors at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital pronounced the three girls dead, their mother, 35-year-old Zulaikha Bibi, was taken to the burns centre of the Civil Hospital Karachi, where her condition was stated to be critical as she had sustained
35 per cent burns.
The tragic incident, which shocked the area people, did not leave a clear clue for the police and fire department officials to ascertain the cause of the deadly fire.
“We don’t suspect any external factor in the incident as it was purely an accident,” said Ameer Hussain Lehri, SP of Gadap Town. “Such cases don’t need the registration of FIRs but obviously there was a proceeding of Section 174 of criminal procedure code, which is done usually in accidents.”
The Gadap Town administration did not disagree with police but at the same time raised questions that indicated a few causes that could be taken into account while investigating the matter instead of closing the issue once for all.
“We can’t conclusively attribute a cause to the fire,” said Murtaza Baloch, the Gadap Town nazim, after holding a meeting with the town’s municipal officer, who visited the site and apprised him of the report.
“Such encroachments, or huts, can’t be prevented from emerging; neither do they pose any serious threat to development work. But obviously they are vulnerable to fires and other ugly incidents due to the non-existence of proper infrastructure.”
Experts endorsed the statement, elaborating that the lack of proper facilities coupled with the bad weather had put the people in huts at risk of fire more than the previous days.
“The fire was not so big. But in huts like these, built purely with bamboos, straws and cartons, it turned out to be devastating,” said Ehteshamuddin, the chief fire officer. “Similarly in the weather with low humidity and heavy gusty winds, open areas where such huts have been set up are at serious risk of fires.”
Hindu community huts
More than a hundred huts belonging to the Hindu community were reduced to ashes and five persons were injured in an intense fire that erupted in Manzoor Colony on Wednesday morning, adds PPI.
Fire brigade officials said they were informed that a fire had erupted in the hundreds of makeshift houses in Junejo Town at 9.45am.Five firefighting engines were rushed to the scene, they said, adding that after hectic efforts of many hours the fire-fighters put out the blaze. The official said up to 70 per cent of the huts had been burnt.
Jamshed Town Nazim Javed Ahmed also reached the scene and inspected the rescue operation. The chief of the Hindu community, Maharaj, was also present.
Fire brigade official said the cause of the fire could not be ascertained.
Another fire was reported in the Sea Breeze Plaza on Sharea Faisal in the afternoon. City fire brigade officials said their vehicles were busy extinguishing the fire in Manzoor Colony, therefore, the DHA fire station was asked to take care of the plaza fire.
A DHA fire engine reached the scene and found that an electric meter was on fire. However, it was put out without any major loss.
Dear visitor, the comments section is undergoing an overhaul and will return soon.