At least 10 people, including children and women, were killed and three injured in a fire incident early Friday morning in the Seri area of Pattan, the district headquarters of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lower Kohistan.

Lower Kohistan Rescue 1122 spokesperson, Farman Ali, told Dawn.com that the fire erupted in a wooden house due to an electric short circuit in the early hours of Friday when the residents were asleep.

As a result, the house’s roof collapsed, leading to the deaths of 10 family members and leaving three others injured. Ali further said that until the residents woke up, the entire house had been engulfed in fire.

The rescue official said that as it was dark when rescue efforts were under way, and they faced difficulties in retrieving the bodies and the injured.

“However, their bodies have been recovered and the three injured have been shifted to Pattan’s Rural Health Centre,” Ali added.

He further said that eight buffalos also perished in the incident as the fire was on a “huge scale” and locals had taken part in the rescue efforts as well.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his “grief and sorrow over the loss of lives” and prayed for the “bereaved families and early recovery of those who were injured in the incident”, Radio Pakistan reported him as saying.

A few days ago, an enormous fire at a commercial high-rise on Karachi’s Sharea Faisal road had been attributed by Chief Fire Officer Ishtiaq Ahmed to an electric short circuit that had lit up a panaflex banner hanging on the building on fire.

A week ago, another fire caused by an electrical short circuit in a house had engulfed as many as 36 thatched houses in Mithi’s Aqil locality.

Although no loss of life was reported, all valuables and other belongings of the affectees had been completely destroyed by the devastating fire.