Nine of a family perish in Abbottabad house fire tragedy

ABBOTTABAD: Nine members of a family died when a mud-thatched house caught fire in far-off Trehri village in the wee hours of Sunday, police officials said.

They said the fire erupted in the three-room mud house of Zakir Abbasi, a labourer working in Karachi, when the family members were fast asleep and spread quickly, reducing the structure to ashes.

The locals reached the spot and tried to rescue the family but to no avail. As the village is located 26 kilometers off Abbottabad, it was almost impossible for the rescue personnel to reach the spot in time.

However, the police and Rescue 1122 personnel reached the spot after a while and retrieved the bodies. The dead included Zakir Abbasi’s wife, 5 daughters and three sons.

The deceased were identified as Nagina, 45, wife of Zakir, Saira, 25, Tahira, 18, Hashim, 16, Laiba Bibi, Hashim, 8, Hasnain,6, Fatima Bibi, 1-1/2 and nine-months old Sufiyan.

In-charge Rescue 1122, Abbottabad Zone, Muhammad Arif Khattak, reached the spot along with 30 workers and equipment. The cops of the Qalandarabad Police Station also joined the rescue work and shifted the bodies to hospital through ambulances. Another tragic aspect of the incident is that the owner of the house, Zakir Abbasi, could not attend the funeral. As he cannot afford air travel, he has left for his hometown from Karachi on a bus service, one of his relatives said.

“As all the bodies were mutilated beyond recognition, we could not delay the burial process,” he added. A police official said that they were investigating the exact cause of the incident.