LAHORE, July 24: A girl was killed and another four children of her family sustained injuries when the roof of their house collapsed in heavy rain here on Wednesday.

Welder Mohammad Arshad of Haveli Mian Usman, Ichhra, told police that his wife and three children and two kids of a relative were home when he left for work.

His wife was busy protecting household items from rain when the children went upstairs to play. The roof collapsed and all five children were trapped in the rubble.

Neighbours called in the police who rushed to the place along with civil defence and other civic agencies.

The body of Arshad’s 15-year-old daughter Iram was recovered from the debris. Her two brothers, Shahzad (6) and Mohammad Ali (2), and kids of the relative, Ayesha and Anila, both under-15, had sustained injuries and were taken to the Services Hospital. Only one of the children was reported to be in critical condition. The body was returned to the family without an autopsy.

Meanwhile, a five-year-old boy, Zaid, drowned near Jallo, his father, Idrees, told police.

The death had nothing to do with rain as it was reported long before the downpour began, the police said.

Idrees of Mughalpura said his brother-in-law, Rehmat Ali of Samanabad, had taken the boy and his daughter Rukhsar to the water park near Jallo for a picnic.

Rehmat did not seem to be in his senses when passersby found him crying on the canal road. Rukhsar, too, was weeping and had no idea as to what had happened. The boy was lying dead close by.

The passersby called in the police who took the body into custody and called the family. The body was handed over to the family.

The police said they would be able to know if the boy had drowned in a swimming pool of the water park or the canal when Rehmat got to his senses as the minor girl was unable to say anything about it.