LAHORE – Two minors died when fire erupted at a house at Gohava Colony located in South Cantonment police precincts at about noon on Friday. Fire erupted when minors, brothers, unmonitored by an elder, tried to light a stove.
The deceased were identified as Usman Muneer (7) and Adnan Muneer (5). According to Edhi officials Usman and Adnan were in their single room house, while their four elder brothers were playing outside and their mother, Samina, and father, Muneer, had gone for work.
Edhi officials said that the minors turned on the gas and started searching for the match box. Meanwhile, gas kept leaking from the stove and, after a few minutes, when two minors tried to light the stove, fire erupted with a low intensity blast.
Flames first burnt the room furniture and later engulfed the entire room. The two couldn’t escape because the room was locked. The house’s roof collapsed and both boys were buried under its debris. Locals tried to extinguish fire and later the Chowki Nadra Abad police officials reached the scene and brought out the boys’ bodies.
Locals said that Rescue 1122, Fire Brigade or Edhi officials did not reach in time to extinguish fire. Basheer, a local, said Edhi officials reached after two hours of the incident.
Muneer, in his written statement to the police, declared the incident as an accident and requested the police to return the bodies without autopsy.
Chowki Nadra Abad In-charge Sub Inspector Azam while talking to Pakistan Today said that fire had burnt everything and when they reached the scene, locals were trying to extinguish fire on their own, before any rescue official could manage to reach.
He said that boys’ parents reached their house after almost one and half hour. He said that bodies have been handed over to boys’ parents for funerals, but they do not have money to burry their sons. He appealed to the rich to help the family in reconstructing their house.
