MURREE/ISLAMABAD: Three were killed and several injured in gas related accidents in Murree and the twin cities on Sunday.

Three of a family died of gas asphyxiation in Murree after they forgot to switch off the heater in the room they were sleeping in.

Residents of Bansra Gali, Mohammad Wassem Abbasi, his wife and five-year-old son died when the room they were sleeping in filled with gas.

Neighbours forced opened the door when they smelled the gas and informed Rescue 1122 and the family’s relatives.

The bodies were taken to the hospital where doctors confirmed their death. The bodies were handed over to the family without autopsies on the family’s request.

Waseem was an employee of the Government Girls College Murree. His elder son was staying the night at his grandfather’s in a nearby village, Pithli.

In an unrelated incident in Islamabad, three people were injured due to a gas cylinder blast in Chatha Bakhtawar, in the limits of the Shahzad Town police station on Sunday.

According to the police, the incident happened in the house of retired Col Hassan Syed in which his wife, son and a neighbour were injured. The injured were taken to the hospital.

The sound of the blast was so loud that the both the Fire Brigade and a bomb disposal squad were directed to leave for the site of the accident. The police said the blast was so intense that it damaged part of the house.

Meanwhile in Rawalpindi, eight of a family received burn injuries when a fire broke out in a house in Dhoke Hassu due to gas leakage in the limits of the Ratta police station Sunday morning.

According to the police, the fire broke out when one of the women lit a match in the kitchen in the morning, when the stove had been leaking which started a fire which spread to a large part of the house.

After they were informed of the incident by locals, Rescue 1122 and the police arrived at the scene. It took rescue officials half an hour to extinguish the fire.

Those injured in the incident include 35-year-old Mohammad Arshad, 30-year-old Samina Arshad, 13-year-old Ibrahim, 10-year-old Dua, 8-year-old Amna, six-year-old Fatima, seven month old Musa and three-year-old Hayat. The family was moved to the Holy Family Hospital.The police said that Arshad, his wife and two of their daughters had received burns to 40pc of their body and that the rest of the children had relatively milder injuries.

Doctors at the hospital said the family was discharged after having received treatment.

Published in Dawn January 23rd, 2017