RAWALPINDI, Dec 26: Five persons of a family —- father, mother and their three children —- died of suffocation due to gas leakage in Gulzar-i-Quaid here on Thursday, the police said.

However, a minor girl survived, who was later shifted to the Rawalpindi General Hospital where his condition was stated to be in danger.

Mohammad Qasim (40), who belonged to Pind Dadan Khan, had been living in his house with his family for the last three years. Qasim, who was a gas cylinders dealer, had been living in his house with two sons, Musa and Abdullah, aged between 5 to 7 and two daughters, Maida (5), an 8-month-old Dania and his wife, Parveen.

On Thursday at about 4pm, an employee of Qasim, arrived at his house and rang the doorbell but got no response.

When he saw lights on the gate on, he contacted the neighbours, who called the police. However, windowpanes of the house were broken and people found Qasim, his wife and four children lying on the floor of bedroom, which was filled with gas.

“When door of the bedroom was opened, a minor girl was breathing, while her parents, two brothers and a sister had apparently died due to suffocation,” said a police official.

Qasim’s niece, who is attending Dania in the hospital, said she had not regained her consciousness so far. She said she arrived at her uncle’s house after she was informed about the incident.

Meanwhile, the body of a woman, who is believed to have been tortured to death, was found from Sector I-9, while two persons were found dead in Islamabad on Wednesday, the police said.

In the first incident, the body of an unidentified woman was found lying under a bridge linking Rawalpindi with Islamabad. The woman in her 40s had been wearing printed shalwar and kameez, the police said.

The police said she seemed to have been murdered a day earlier or two and there were some signs of torture on her face. However, the postmortem report is yet to be received.

Later, the I-9 police also recovered the body of a man from the green-belt on Wednesday. The unidentified man is said to be in his 50s. The body has been shifted to the hospital for autopsy.

Similarly, the secretariat police on Wednesday recovered the body of a 35-year-old man, who had been missing since Tuesday morning, the police said.

The police said Rajoo Ali, a resident of Dhoke Najoo, left his house after he was scolded by his parents on Tuesday morning but did not return.

Some passersby informed the police about the presence of the body in the fields. Later, the police traced the family of the deceased and handed over them the body after the postmortem.

Meanwhile, two robberies were committed during the last two days.

In the first incident, four persons forcibly entered the house of Sumaira Syed in F-10/4 on Wednesday night and held the family and guests hostage at gunpoint.

The robbers snatched jewellery and cash from the guests and also took away with them video camera, passports and other valuables.

In the second incident, three armed persons entered the house of a retired army officer in Chaklala-III on Thursday afternoon and took away with them money and jewellery, the police said.

Kazim Hussain told the airport police that three unidentified persons entered his house in his absence and held two female members of the family hostage at gunpoint. The culprits snatched Rs26,000, jewellery, one pistol and one revolver.

The robbers also held Kazim Hussain and his servant hostage at gunpoint, when they returned home in the meantime unaware of the presence of culprits inside the house.

Meanwhile, a car and a pick-up van were stolen from Islamabad on Wednesday, the police said.

The pick-up van (MA-7149), owned by Mohammad Sadiq, was stolen from Aabpara police area while a car (LOV-5232) was lifted from G-8 Markaz.