January 15, 2019
RAWALPINDI: In what can be described as an extremely tragic incident, a bride and five of her friends succumbed to burn injuries in a house fire at Sixth road on Tuesday, the family of the deceased accuses rescue team of showing negligence in conducting immediate relief action.
Bride Sana Tariq, Hina (14), Hafsa (20), Minahil (25), Naina (22) were taken to a nearby hospital, where they were pronounced dead after succumbing before injuries.
Initial investigations suggest that the fire broke out due to gas compressor explosion, the police are further probing whether the house fire was deliberately set or not.
The late bride's uncle has alleged that lives were lost due to the negligence by the rescue team.
"I kept requesting them with my hands folded but they didn't doze off the fire," he said while speaking to Geo News. The residents of the area share the same view as they maintain that the rescue team could have saved lives by the immediate operation but they arrived late with inadequate water supply.
"The rescue team arrived at least 45 minutes late and within 10 minutes they were short of water supply," said a local resident.
Meanwhile, Rawalpindi Rescue District Officer 1122 Dr Abdul Rehman has rejected the allegations levelled by the family and neighbourhood residents.
"We sent fire tenders on an immediate basis. Back-to-back rescue teams were sent to dose off the fire," he said.