Ghaziabad: Family loses 3 of 4 children to fire started by short circuit

The three minors were sleeping in one of the rooms and suffered severe burns, their fourth sibling was saved as he was sleeping in another room with his grandmother

Since August 24, the family of Mohammad Zakir is in a state of shock. In the span of a fortnight, they lost three of their four children to a fire, allegedly caused by a short-circuit, at their house at Nahal near Masuri in Ghaziabad.

Police said Faizan succumbed to burns a day after on August 25 while his sister Nahida died on August 26. The family lost their other son Junaid, on Sunday. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

The three minors, Faizan, 13, Nahida, 15, and Junaid, 11, were sleeping in one of the rooms and suffered severe burns. Their fourth sibling, six-year-old Zaid was saved as he was sleeping in another room with his grandmother.

“My brother was attending to his ailing wife Mohsina at a hospital in Delhi and he decided not to take his three children as they would miss their classes. The children stayed with us and studied up to 11.30pm on August 23 and then went to sleep. They could not move out when a short-circuit near the inverter triggered a fire. Their room was locked from inside. We all rushed in and broke the door and pulled out the three children and rushed them to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi,” said Mohammad Talib, Zakir’s brother.

The police said Faizan succumbed to burns a day after on August 25 while his sister Nahida died on August 26. The family lost their other son Junaid, on Sunday.

“All three children suffered about 60-65% burns and died one after the other at the hospital. Zakir after hearing about the death of his first child got his wife discharged from hospital and rushed back home. Ever since, the family has lost three of their four children. Both Zakir and his wife Mohsina have gone silent and keep crying every time someone talks about the incident,” Talib said.

“It is a tragic incident. The fire probably occurred due to short-circuit in the house. The family of Zakir is poor and they lost three minor children. It will be up to the district administration to see if the family can be given a monetary compensation,” said Naresh Kumar, assistant commissioner of police, Masuri/Muradnagar circle.

Talib said his brother is a labourer and hardly earns enough to make ends meet. He is also busy with attending to his ailing wife.

“His wife Mohsina has health issues as she cannot stand up and hardly has any strength in her lower limbs. As a result, Zakir is now seeing a private doctor and not getting her admitted again to the hospital in Delhi for treatment. He is not able to move out for work as well. The police have completed the post-mortem formalities,” Talib said.