Six children of the same family burnt to death in an apartment blaze

Lahore: A short-circuit caused a fire to erupt in an apartment in Shadbagh, The blaze then engulfed room in which the six children were sleeping.The incident occurred in Kot Khawaja Saeed area on Sher Shah Road in Lahore.

The short circuit sparked a fire on the first floor of the three-storey building where three of the children were sleeping early on Sunday. The smoke and fire caused the three children to suffocate to death.

The fire quickly spread to the second floor, where the other three children received severe burns. The children were taken to the hospital but doctors were unable to save their lives.

 

12 year old Minahil, 11 year old Zain, 8 year old Dua, 5 year old Hanan, 2 year old Azlaan and 2 year old Azaan were burnt alive.

Neighbours blamed the firefighters of responding late and arriving at the scene without adequate arrangements.

“If they would have reached the location on time then at least four children could have been saved,” said one neighbour who did not give his name.

Another neighbour said firefighters arrived around 45 minutes after they informed Rescue 1122, and that “either due to a technical fault or incompetence” they were unable to douse the fire with water for at least seven more minutes.

In separate statements, President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister expressed grief and sympathy with the unfortunate family.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has ordered authorities to investigate and find out what caused the delay in firefighters reaching the scene.