ISLAMABAD: A police officer says a mother and her seven children were killed overnight by a fire the family had lit to keep warm in their hut in Sindh's Dadu district.

Ashraf Hussain said Friday the blaze engulfed the poor family's home, made of wooden planks and covered by bushes, in Dadu's Gorakh Hills area.

The village in southern Sindh province is located in what is usually the coldest area in winter in a province known for very hot summers.

Read: Gorakh hills receive season’s first snowfall, but remain inaccessible

Hussain says the father of the family was the only survivor but is badly burned and still unconscious.

Fires are common during cold weather in Pakistan, where a large segment of the population lives below the poverty line in huts and homes without proper heating.

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