ISLAMABAD: Four people, including three children, were critically injured in a fire at their home on Saturday.

Police said the fire broke out in a house in PWD Colony. The four victims had been living on the ground floor.

Lohi Bher Station House Officer Inspector Mohammad Fiaz Shinwari said one of the neighbours informed police that a fire had broken out at the house because of a gas cylinder explosion. Police, rescue officials and firefighters and paramedics reached the house soon after and found the ground floor engulfed in flames.

He said one family was living in the lower portion and another on the upper portion. The upper portion was evacuated.

Rescue workers recovered four people from inside the house, he added. They were immediately taken to a hospital and admitted to the burns unit.

Mr Shinwari said the ground floor was badly damaged and the flames even reached upstairs, but the firefighters managed to extinguish the fire.

One of the occupants, identified as Hamza, was not present at home at the time of the fire, he added. He had left for Kohat when he was contacted by the police, and is now on his way back.

The injured have been identified as Hamza’s wife Laiba, their sons Abu Bakr and Mohammad Ahmed and Hamza’s eight-year-old sister Marwa. Laiba and the two boys received 100pc injuries, while Marwa received 50pc burn injuries, he said. Doctors have said all the victims are in critical condition.

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2019