KARACHI: Four people, including a woman and her infant daughter, were killed in a fire that erupted in a residential building in Hijrat Colony on Saturday morning, officials said.

They said that the blaze erupted in a mattress shop located on the ground floor and it engulfed the first floor of the building.

Civil Lines SHO Salahuddin said that eight persons were shifted to hospital. A young man died of burns while three others died of inhaling smoke.

He added that all the eight persons became unconscious after inhaling smoke.

He said that the fire erupted at around 5.45am but according to a fire brigade official they received information about the blaze at around 6.05am.

Doctors say one victim was burnt to death while three others died of inhaling smoke

They sent one fire tender initially and later sent another. In the meantime, two more fire tenders of the Karachi Port Trust also arrived there.

The firefighters managed to control the blaze at around 9.40am. They said they faced problem in getting access to the area as the building was located in a congested locality.

The fire official said that nine persons were rescued in an unconscious condition and they were sent to a hospital. Shaharyar Talib, 24, already died of burns before arrival of the fire tenders.

At the Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi, three other persons were pronounced dead.

They were identified as Wasila Tauqeer, 30, her daughter one-and-half-year-old daughter, Ayat, and Ishrat Talib, 45.

The officials said that the owner of the building, Mohammad Talib, was the spouse of deceased Ishrat. He was also injured. Most of the victims are said to be his relatives.

The wounded were identified as Talib, 50, Shahzaib, 18, Sumbal Talib, 20, Tauqeer Talib, 35, Awais Talib, Irshad, 50, his children Abdul Qutub, 10, Ms Hoor, 30.

Police Surgeon Qarar Ahmed Abbasi said that the relatives took away the four bodies from the CHK without allowing doctors to complete medico-legal formalities.

He said that only four injured persons were brought to the CHK. They all became unconscious after inhaling smoke and were discharged after first aid.

Constable Naeem Gujjar, posted at Madadgar-15 Civil Lines, fell unconscious due to smoke during the rescue operation. He was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre from where he was discharged after first aid.

The area SHO opined that some electric short-circuit might have triggered the fire.

However, the fire official said that the exact cause of the blaze was not known.

Regarding damage to property, he said that the mattress shop and two other shops were gutted while the first floor of the building was also damaged.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2020