Rawalpindi-As many as four young women, including a bride died while another woman suffered critical lung injuries after a huge fire erupted in a house located at A-Block of Satellite Town here on Tuesday, informed official sources.  The reason behind the fire was yet to be ascertained as the Rescue team reported that it was gas explosion but the family members claimed that it was caused by short circuiting. However, the explosion gutted the upper portion of the house. One female victim, whose lungs got damaged due to smoke, is battling for her life in the Emergency Department of Holy Family Hospital. Reportedly, the enraged family members thrashed rescuers of Rescue 1122 due to late arrival to extinguish the fire. Those who died include Sana Chaudhry (24), Sheena (24), Hifza (20) and Hina (14). The injured girl was identified as Munail (25).

According to sources and some members of the victims family, who were present in the hospital, said that the wedding ceremony of Sana Chaudhry (24) daughter of Chaudhary Tariq was supposed to take place on Monday night at the house. After performing ‘Henna’ function, many girls went to sleep in a room located on the first floor of the house, but early morning, a huge fire erupted in the house that killed the four girls and injured one critically, they said. The fire-fighters of Rescue 1122 rushed to the site and tried to contain the fire. Heavy contingent of police also arrived at the scene. A police officer told The Nation that the four girls, including the bride, Sana, slept on the upper portion of the house, while the others including Munail were on the ground floor of the building.

He said that the incident occurred around 12.15 pm on Tuesday when the smoke started emitting from the windows and doors of the upper portion. As the family members rushed to the second story of the house, they found the four females badly burnt and lying unconscious on their beds.

Initial police investigation and intelligence sources suggested that the rooms had been filled with gas from a compressor due to which the women fainted due to suffocation and then the fire erupted that gutted the house. Liaquat Ali, a Sub Inspector (SI), who was leading the investigation, told media that the initial investigation suggested that the fire erupted due to electric short circuiting and denied that there was a gas compressor in the house; however, the fire department has been unable to give the cause of the fire so far. The rescue 1122 fire fighters faced problems in extinguishing the fire as the grieved family kept on looking for other family members. An eye witness at a house nearby said he saw flames envelop the upper portion of the house and heard people screaming in the street. Some people were seen running in panic towards the scene to help the victims. “There was thick smoke drifting out of the house, windows were shattered and fire fighters were struggling to control the flames,” said an eye witness. The four dead bodies of the victims were moved to the District Headquarters Hospital for post-mortem. After the external post-mortem, the dead bodies were handed over to their families.

Munail, who has been struggling for her life in the emergency ward of the HFH, was put on ventilator by the doctors. MS HFH Dr Nasir also visited ER and examined the victim. The family members of Munail also confronted the doctors for non availability of ventilator. Later on, doctors arranged a ventilator for the patient on intervention of Federal Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan. A doctor told The Nation the condition of Munail is critical as her lungs have been damaged badly due to suffocation. Federal Minister for Railway Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed visited the scene and expressed grief and sorrow over the tragic deaths with the family members.