By By M Waqar Bhatti
Two minor children were burnt alive when a fire broke out in a compound housing some shanties near Al-Asif Square, Sohrab Goth in the limits of Sachal police station on Thursday noon.
According to eye witnesses and city’s fire brigade officials, the fire was so fierce that within no time, it engulfed majority of the shanties in a 600-yard plot and by the time firemen and rescuers reached the spot, it had done maximum damage including claiming the lives of two and reducing 12 out of 14 shanties to ashes, eyewitnesses said.
In addition to the deaths, two women also sustained minor burnt injuries.
Charred bodies of both the minor children were initially sent to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for legal formalities and then shifted to the Edhi morgue by the rescuers.
“My daughter Kaka, who was two and half year old and my grandson, Badal, who was four-year old were killed in the fire when we were at our workplaces and women were also away from their makeshift homes,” Punnu, the aggrieved father and grandfather of the children told The News.
During a visit to the place, it was learnt that the shanties had been established on a 600-yard vacant plot, which was owned by one, Haji Ishque, who had allowed gypsies from interior Sindh to live there.
There were some 14 shanties in the plot in Bhakkar Goth, out of which 12 were completely reduced to ashes.
“The fire erupted around 1:30 pm when most of the men had gone on work. There were no women in the shanties as they too work as cleaning ladies and only children were present there,” said Punnu, a pushcart vendor, who hailed from Tando Muhammad Khan district.
He said that he was selling bananas nearby when the fire erupted.
“Other persons have only suffered material losses but I have lost everything. Now, we people don’t know where to live,” he added.
Punnu said that he had decided to take the bodies to his ancestral place. “All I am worried about is how to arrange a vehicle to take the bodies and my family members to my ancestral place,” he added.
Other persons, whose shanties were reduced to ashes, said that they had also decided to move back to their ancestral place as they were left with nothing. These persons, however, ruled out any possibility of sabotage, saying it was an accident.
“We are living here for years and the plot owner has never asked us to leave. This fire had occurred accidentally and we don’t blame anyone for the loss,” they added.
Station Fire Officer of the Gulistan-e-Mustafa Fire Station, Sohrab Goth, Mubin Ahmed, said that he immediately sent three fire tenders to extinguish the fire and it was brought under control soon the fire tenders reached there.
“However, it was a fierce fire and owing to straw huts, it had reduced everything to ashes before we could reach into compound,” the fire brigade official said.
He said that the firefighters found the bodies while putting off the fire and added that both the children had died by the time they were spotted.
The fire brigade official criticized the rescuers of different service organisations, saying they not only hindered the efforts of the firemen, who were extinguishing the blaze, but also fought each other over the bodies just to score numbers.