HARIPUR: A 12-year-old girl was burnt to death and her mother sustained severeburn injuries when both were caught in a wildfire in the hilly area of Daral village of Khanpur forest range, police and forest officials told Dawn here on Wednesday.

Earlier last week, four people of a family, including three women, were killed in Shangla district when the wildfire burnt their house.

Residents of Daral said that Iqra Bibi, 12, – daughter of Mohammad Mushtaq, an employee of Nadra office, Haripur – went to the forest area with other girls of the same village to bring fodder for buffaloes. When they were on way back carrying bundles of grass on their heads the path they were supposed to use for reaching home came under forest fire.

Family members and eyewitnesses said that Iqra’s other friends reached their homes using some alternative route, but she decided to climb a tree in a bid to stay safe from the fire.

Makhniyal area forest fire partially controlled

However, according to eyewitnesses when the fire turned intense and started burning the same tree the girl jumped down and was caught by flames and as a result she suffered critical burn injuries.

In an attempt to rescue Iqra Bibi, her mother Yasmin Bibi, 45, rushed to the spot and tried to drag her daughter out of the blaze and in her effort she also suffered over 70 per cent burns.

The villagers later doused the fire and shifted the critically burnt daughter and mother to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital, Khanpur, where doctors pronounced Iqbra Bibi as brought dead, while her mother was referred to the Wah Cantonment Hospital where her condition was said to be critical.

Meanwhile, the wildfire that started in Tarar forest area of Khanpur tehsil was put out by the villagers after an effort of two hours. However, the fire that started in Makhniyal area of Khanpur was partially controlled, while fire at the forest of Muslimabad village could not be doused till Wednesday evening.

In Kohat, fires erupted in Mallakhel and Baboz Kallay mountains of Darra Adamkhel late on Tuesday night and Wednesday, leaving scores of trees damaged.

Earlier, fire had gripped the mountains of the far-flung area of Kalakhel of Darra Adamkhel on Tuesday.

Spokesperson of Rescue 1122 Yasir Khattak said that they received a call from Baboz Kallay that a fire had broken out in the mountains on Wednesday. It was spreading to other parts due to winds. District emergency officer Jawad Khalil was himself supervising the rescue activities.

After travelling on foot for three hours the fire in Mallakhel mountains was doused in seven hours.

In Shangla, fire once again erupted at Dandai area of Bisham tehsil which the Rescue 1122 team put out through timely action as their team was present in the mountainous area.

Rescue official Sheraz Khan told this correspondent that the fire had broken out in the mountain forest of Dandai on Wednesday morning.

In Lower Dir, the Rescue 1122 firefighters extinguished a forest fire at Hamza Banda hill in Asbanr area of Adenzai after hectic efforts on Wednesday. According to the residents, the fire had damaged scores of decades-old trees in the forest.

Also in the day, a fire broke out in the forest of Laram Dara that was put out by local volunteers and firefighters of the Rescue 1122 service. Similarly, a fire was controlled by local volunteers and rescue firefighters in the forest of Rabat here the other day.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2022