BAHAWALNAGAR: A young woman died, while her father and two brothers fell sick on Saturday night after eating meal in Faqirwali area.

According to police, a landlord, Liaqat Ali Rajpoot (45), of Chak 144/6 R, told them that after taking meal at his house, he, his sons -- Umer and Amir -- and daughter Rashida (19) started vomiting.

They were rushed by their relatives to the Faqirwali Rural Health Centre, where Rashida was referred to the Haroonabad Tehsil Headquarters Hospital owing to her serious condition.

However, she died after being shifted to the THQ hospital.

RHC In-charge Dr Abu Bakar said it seemed a case of food poisoning, but nothing could be said with certainty until issuance of test reports of the patients and the postmortem examination of the woman’s dead body.

Faqirwali Station House Officer Shabbir Shah said a case had been registered under Section 174. He said as per the initial investigation the family consumed flour bought from a local mill owned by one Shabbir of Ahmed Nagar Colony.

The SHO said the family had initially refused the postmortem examination of the deceased woman. However, he said, on the insistence of police they agreed to it. He said any action would be taken in the light of the postmortem report.

DIES: A labourer allegedly succumbed to the burns he suffered in a fire he had lit in his hut on Saturday night to keep himself warm at Ramoka village, McLeod Ganj.

According to the village residents, Mukhtar Ahmed made a fire by burning rice husk in his hut in the night to stay warm. However, the fire suddenly engulfed the hut.

The locals said the fire spread so quickly that the labourer could not escape it and suffered critical burns. He died before being shifted to hospital.

Rescue 1122 teams called to the scene extinguished the fire.

McLeod Ganj police have termed the incident an accident.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2021