Woman, seven children perish in one-room house fire in Baldia Town

A family of eight died after a fire broke out inside the only room of their house in the Malang Goth area of Baldia Town on Monday.

Station House Officer Zafar Iqbal of Mochko Police Station told The News that a police team immediately reached the house to rescue the family. “As police arrived at the burning house, a rescue team pulled out dead and injured family members, five of whom were taken to Dr Ruth KM Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi’s (CHK’s) Burns Centre,” he said.

Iqbal said three members of the family were declared dead on arrival and another member of the family died within minutes of treatment. The deceased were identified as 40-year-old Gulzara Bibi and her children 25-year-old Naila, 17-year-old Aqsa, 15-year-old Nazia, seven-year-old Ruqaiya, eight year-old Rehan, 22-year-old Zafar and Tayyab.

Another son of the woman, identified as Sajid, survived and was under treatment at the Burns Centre. Officials at the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) Fire Brigade’s central control room told The News that reports of a fire incident were received at 2:10am.

They said a fire engine from Baldia Fire Station was dispatched to the location right away. Firefighters confirmed that the blaze was put out at 2:40am, they added. Fire Brigade officials said the cause of the fire could not be determined immediately, but it would be ascertained later in the investigation.

The sole survivor, Sajid, in his video statement, said that he was sleeping on a bed with his elder brothers when the fire broke out. “I woke my brothers up as soon as the fire caught our bed,” he said, adding that the smoke filled the room and it became nearly impossible for him to locate the exit door. Sajid claimed that his mother was mentally unstable and suspected that she may have set the room on fire.

A neighbour, in his video statement, said that he hurriedly woke up after he heard Bux’s family members crying out for help. He said he barged into the house to rescue the family and upon entering saw Bux trying to break the door from outside.

He added that other residents and rescue teams also came and pulled out the injured and the deceased. Maripur Division Superintendent of Police (SP) Arif Aziz told The News that statements of the survivor and Bux suggested that the mother locked the room from inside and set it on fire.

He shared that there was only one room in the house and all the family members except Bux were sleeping inside. He stated that Bux, in his statement to the police, mentioned that his wife and children were sleeping in the room while he slept in the courtyard of the house.

He added that Bux told the police that he heard a cry for help when he went to the washroom but as he made his way towards the door, it was locked from the inside. Aziz mentioned that Bux claimed that his wife was mentally unstable and would often threaten him and the family by saying she would set the house on fire one day.

“There were three windows in the room, and all the windows were covered with an iron grill,” the SP said, adding that since the only door to the room was locked from inside, there was no chance for the people to escape the room and save their lives.

Aziz said the police were investigating as to the nature of the chemical used by the suspect used to set the room on fire that spread so quickly. The police recorded the statements of the house owner, neighbours and rescue officials and started an investigation.