ABBOTTABAD: Nine members of a family died when roof of a house collapsed after fire erupted there in Tarhairi village of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Abbottabad district during the wee hours of Sunday.
Rescue 1122 Emergency Officer Hafeezur Rehman, who supervised the rescue operation, confirmed the number of casualties, elaborating that the deceased included a woman, her four sons and four daughters.
He said the incident took place in the limits of the Mangal police station.
According to rescue sources, a fire broke out in the house of Zakir Abbasi reportedly due to a short circuit in Tarhairi area near Abbottabad. As a result, nine members of a family were killed due to the roof collapse and the impact of the fire.
“The house, which was made out of wood, caught fire after a short circuit and then collapsed, the official said. He said the bodies were trapped under the rubble for hours before they were retrieved by rescue teams.
Rehman added that the head of the family, Zakir Abbasi, was in Karachi when the incident took place.
The official further said that it was not possible to identify the bodies and mass graves were prepared for their burial.
The villagers rushed to the scene and started rescue efforts and later, a Rescue 1122 team with fire vehicles and three ambulances reached the incident site and conducted the rescue operation.
The deceased persons were identified as: Nagina, wife of Zakir, her eight children: Saira, Tayyaba, Hashim, Laiba, Qasim, Hasan, Fatima and Sufyan.
