QUETTA: Three persons burned to death and four others were injured after a fire engulfed thousands of pine nut trees in Balochistan’s Sherani district late on Wednesday night.

Although a group of local volunteers rushed to the mountainous area to bring the fire under control, they failed to do anything in the face of the ferocious blaze.

According to Ijaz Ahmed, the deputy commissioner of Sherani, the three persons died after burning pine nuts fell on them.

The four injured people were admitted to hospital and their condition was stable.

“The huge fire has spread to an area within a radius of seven kilometres from the point of origin,” the deputy commissioner said.

The administration pressed in helicopters to douse the fire, but to no avail. “Rain is our only hope now,” the official added. He expressed fears that the fire could envelop more areas and could stretch as far as the southern swathes of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “The Balochistan government should ask the National Disaster Management Authority and other federal institutions to help control the fire.”

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2022