MANSEHRA: Ten members of a family — a woman, her mother-in-law, five daughters and three sons — died after their house caught fire and was gutted in the Pattan area of Lower Kohistan early on Friday morning.
The fire, which is said to have been caused by a lantern, ripped through the multi-room wooden house of Mohammad Nawab and an adjacent cattle pen at about 4am. Several animals also perished.
Enraged relatives of the victim family and area people blocked the Karakoram Highway for hours demanding punitive action against Rescue 112 as it allegedly reached the spot after a long time and the delay resulted in the entire house being destroyed.
The locals retrieved the family members and shifted them to a nearby hospital, where doctors pronounced them dead.
“The locals rushed to the scene of the tragedy and after hectic efforts retrieved the family members trapped under the rubble and shifted them to a health facility,” Razzaq Raja, a witness, told reporters.
According to the police, the deceased were identified as Chabber Bibi, the wife of Mohammad Nawab; her mother-in-law Zahida Bibi, daughters Lili Nawab, 20; Samrian Bibi, 18; Samina Bibi, 16; Bibi Sano, 12; Alina Bibi, 19; and sons Mujeeb Nawab, 9; Munir Nawab, 5; and Aziz Nawab, 2.
The area people, who during their protest had placed the bodies at the KKH for several hours, were later dispersed peacefully after Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Rafique along with the police officials reached there and announced a compensation of Rs5 million for the family.
Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2023
