Six people were killed and two injured on Thursday in two fire incidents. A third fire that started at a chemical warehouse in Faisalabad spread panic in the area. While no one was injured in the incident, residents of the area protested against the city government for allowing hazardous units operate in residential areas.
In Sargodha, three women were killed and two others injured when a power generator blew up at a house in Satellite Town.
Police said the incident happened at Muhammad Saeed’s house in B-Block. The explosion caused a fire that spread to other parts of the house within minutes.
Rescue 1122 was informed and the fire was put out.
Three of the five people at the house at the time of the explosion- Shameem Bibi, Jameela Bibi and Sadia Bibi- died on the way to the hospital.
Sajid and a child, Isra Saeed, were taken to the district headquarters hospital in Kharian with severe burn injuries. Doctors said the two were in critical condition.
In Faisalabad, three people burnt to death on Wednesday night in a fire at a house in Madni Chowk near Anarkali, Samanabad.
Rescue 1122 officials said the fire at the house of Nasir Umair was started by an electric short circuit.
It spread across the house within minutes. Umair and two children were trapped inside. It took rescuers three hours to put out the fire. By the time the injured were pulled out, they had died. The bodies were sent to the Allied Hospital for post-mortem examination.
Fire at chemical warehouse
A chemicals warehouse in the Old Sabzi Mandi area in Khalidabad caught fire on Wednesday night, apparently following an electric short circuit.
It took Rescue 1122 fire fighters three hours to put it out. By the time, the fire had reached two adjacent houses and three shops. No one was injured in the incident.
Scores of residents of the area staged a demonstration against the warehouse owner and the city government for allowing it to operate in a residential area.
They said the neighbourhood was congested so that the kind of business should not be allowed.
They also criticised the landlord for “putting people’s lives at risk.
Muhammad Naseer, one of the protestors, said that some of the residents had thrice complained to the police and sought removal of the warehouse from the area. He said the police had possibly been bribed.
He said some of the policemen were rumoured to have been getting monthly bribes “to remain silent”.
Farooq Ali, another protestor, said the warehouse workers had tried to extinguish the fire themselves. He said professional help was called for when some residents noticed the smoke and saw some workers running out of the building. Had the Rescue team not been prompt in their response, he said, the fire would have been disastrous.
The protestors blocked the Khalidabad Road and sought a city government crackdown against such businesses in the residential areas.
A police team sent to the scene assured the protesters that action would be taken against the warehouse owners. Police said all the workers in the building had fled.
The station house officer said no complaint had been registered so far. He said the police were trying to reach the owner of the warehouse.
The protesters then dispersed.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 14th, 2013.