KARACHI, April 29: Eight members of a family died when a fire engulfed a flat on the fourth floor of an apartment block in Gulshan-i-Iqbal early on Friday morning. The fire had been caused by a short circuit which ignited the gas leaking in the kitchen, according to initial investigations. Investigators believe that members of the household who were asleep at that time were suffocated by the smoke and were unable to move as flames raged. The victims were identified as Shabbir Alam, 60, a former employee of Wapda; his wife, Sarwari Begum; their three sons, Ahmed Alam, 26, Aftab Alam, 24 and Farhan Alam 22; daughter-in-law Rasheeda Bibi; and grandsons, Raheel, 13, and Hamza, 6.

Rozina, a married daughter of late Shabbir Alam, had visited her parents on Thursday night, not knowing that it would be her last meeting with them, including her son, Hamza Shahid, who had opted to stay back at his grandparents’ house instead of going back with his mother.

Raheel, 13, the other boy who died, had been living with his grandparents since the death of his mother a few years ago.

Raheel’s father, Nizamuddin, who had remarried after his first wife’s death, told Dawn he had wanted his son to become an engineer.

The teenager, who had appeared in Class IX examination, was to appear in a practical on Friday. Some people of the area blamed the fire department for what they alleged their belated response.

Police said the fire had broken out around 3:45am, rapidly engulfing the entire flat.

Chief Fire Officer Kazim Ali told Dawn his department had received information at 4:25am through police control.

A man, Sohail, saw the flames leaping out of the windows as he happened to enter the Five Star Complex and immediately called Police Helpline at 15.

The first fire-tender from the Sohrab Goth station reached the place at 4:36am and called for reinforcements.

The fire-tenders encountered some barricades put up on the Rashid Minhas Road which is undergoing repairs.

Besides, street barricades put up for security on various roads in Block-2 of Gulshan-i-Iqbal further delayed the fire-tenders from reaching the place, the chief fire officer pointed out.

The main entrance to the complex being narrow posed another challenge to the fire-fighters.

The family had a window and a split air-conditioner in the apartment, the split unit getting power through an extension from the window air-conditioner.

Investigators said that the extension was apparently not been up to the standard to bear the load of two AC units.

Some reports spoke of the family trying to get out of the flat, but the main door, the only exit, was locked.

Some eyewitnesses said they had seen some of the victims clinging to the window, crying for help.

“After some time it became all quiet, suggesting that they were all dead,” said a resident of the complex.

Neighbours living on the third floor did try to break open the grille, but it was too late.

By 7am, the bodies of the victims were shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for legal formalities.