BAHAWALNAGAR: Two Rescue 1122 firefighters suffered burns while rescuing a caged partridge trapped inside a room of a house in Bukhari Colony where a fire erupted on Saturday.

As per District Officer Emergency Rao Sharafat, a fire broke out in a house in Bukhari Colony near Mubarak Gate.

He said a team of Rescue 1122 firefighters, on being informed of the blaze through an emergency call around 11am, rushed to the spot and started a firefighting operation.

He said during the operation, the rescuers heard frantic calls of a partridge from a room engulfed in flames.

He said on hearing the bird’s calls, two rescuers -- Muhammad Sajid and Sabir Ali -- entered the burning room, risking their lives, and rescued the caged partridge.

While rescuing the bird, he said, the firefighters suffered burns. However, their condition was stable now, the officer added.

In the blaze, he said, dowry items worth around Rs300,000, stored in a room of the house, were burnt to ashes. However, other dowry items worth more than a million lying in other rooms were saved because of the timely firefighting operation.

The cause of the fire could not be immediately ascertained, Mr Sharafat added.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2021