PESHAWAR – A house fire in the Tehkal Payan district claimed the lives of a married couple and their four children on Thursday, according to Rescue 1122.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Rescue 1122 spokesperson Bilal Ahmed Faizi informed Dawn that the emergency service was alerted at approximately 2:30 a.m.
Upon arrival, the rescue team required 45 minutes to bring the blaze under control.
During the search, rescuers recovered six bodies from a single room: a husband, his wife, and their four children — three girls aged 11, nine, and three, and a four‑year‑old boy.
The father was identified as a local worker affiliated with the Jamiat Ulema‑i‑Fazl (JUI‑F), as stated in a party release.
Faizi reported that the fire originated in a storage area containing furniture and mattresses, rapidly spreading to the rest of the dwelling. The intensity of the flames left the family trapped in the single room where they were staying.
The spokesperson added that the children’s bodies showed no burn injuries, suggesting they succumbed to extreme heat and smoke rather than direct flame contact.
The exact cause of the fire remains under investigation, Faizi noted.
Nationwide, fires regularly erupt in residential, commercial and industrial premises owing to deteriorating infrastructure, inadequate enforcement of safety codes and pervasive negligence.
Earlier this March, a woman and her two children died from suffocation after a house fire broke out in Hyderabad.
In January, a woman and five children perished in two separate house fires across Punjab. In Layyah, a fire engulfed a room while three sleeping girls, including a 1½‑year‑old, were trapped.
A second incident in Arifwala, Pakpattan district, claimed the lives of two infants and their mother, while the father sustained burns after their home ignited due to a gas leak.
