Six of family burnt alive in fire at Panipat

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Panipat, January 12

In a tragic incident, six members of a family, including a couple and their four children, were charred to death when a major fire broke out in a room in the Tehsil camp area near Bichpari Chowk on Thursday morning.

The fire broke out due to the leakage in an LPG cylinder. The incident occurred at around 6.30 am. The Fire Brigade and the police reached the spot after getting information regarding the mishap. The deceased were identified as Abdul Karim (45), his wife Afroza (40), two daughters Ishrat (20), Reshma(17), his two sons Abdush(12) and Afan (10). All victims belonged to Uttar Dinajpur district in West Bengal. Abdul and Afroza worked at a private factory here.

Dharambir Kharab, DSP, Headquarters, said the incident occurred when Afroza lit a match box to make tea in the morning.

All six were living in the small room and had their kitchen in the same room. The fire spread in the room due to the leakage of gas. However, the exact cause of the deaths would be clear after the report of the postmortem examination was out. Prima facie, it seemed due to high flames, smoke and suffocation inside the room, all six were burnt alive, the DSP added.

Asgar from Bihar, who was living in the adjoining room along with his five other family members, said his mother could smell the gas leakage. They heard sounds from the adjoining room, but the door was locked from inside.

They tried dousing the flames, but were unable to break open the door, which was later opened with the help of other people, he said.

When they entered the room, all family members were burnt alive, Asgar added.

Kharab along with the SHO Tehsil Camp, Phool Kumar and the FSL team reached the spot and sent the bodies to the mortuary at General Hospital.

SP Shashank Kumar Sawan said it was a very unfortunate incident. No complaint in the matter has been received so far, he said.