Three minors burnt to death as fire erupts in Muslim Colony mud-house

Islamabad
In a shivering episode, three minors were scorched to death, while four other members of their family sustained serious injuries when a mud-house caught fire in Muslim Colony near the shrine of Hazrat Barri Imam in Nurpur Shahan in the wee hours of Monday, police and hospital sources said.
The seven-member poor family was sleeping when fire engulfed the mud-house. Consequently, all family members fell unconscious as there was no ventilation in the temporary abode, police said.
The people residing in surrounding areas rushed to the scene and rescued the four injured family members, including Ansar Iqbal, 38, his wife Robina Iqbal, 30, and their two daughters — Abira, 9, and Amber, 11. All of them were in critical condition. People shifted the injured family members to the hospital without knowing that three minors were present in the burning mud-house, eyewitnesses said.
“It was too late when the rescuers got information about the presence of three minors in the ill-fated house,” an eyewitness said.
The rescuers, however, took out completely scorched corpses of three minors who could not be identified. The unidentifiable minors were 18-month-old Usama Ansar, Noor Fatima, 4, and Rambal, 6. Three girls - Rambal, Amber and Abira were studying in different levels in a local school.
The people engaged in the investigation of the case said that Ansar Iqbal was a taxi driver living in the mud-house with his wife and five children including four daughters and a son. Ansar Iqbal used to keep extra fuel (petrol) in bottles and containers in his house to meet any emergency, which turned out to be the cause of tragedy.
The police investigators said that a burning candle fell on one of the fuel containers during early hours which caught fire and flames engulfed the whole house.
Dr. Waseem Khawaja, spokesman for the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), when contacted, said that all family members, who were shifted to the hospital with burn injuries, were in critical condition. He said that the next 24 hours are crucial for them. According to him, the two girls were in serious condition.
Three minors killed in the incident were later buried in Nurpur Shahan without the knowledge of their parents who were fighting for their lives at the PIMS.