LAHORE - Six children and a teenage boy died in two different accidents in the provincial metropolis on Wednesday, police and rescue workers said.

Four children were burnt alive in a house fire in Misri Shah Wednesday afternoon while another three children were killed in a road accident in Baghbanpura.

Rescue workers said that four siblings were sleeping in a small double-storey house in the low-income neighbourhood when fire broke out in the bedroom. Two of them died on the spot while another two succumbed to burns at the Mayo hospital later.

“We can confirm that all the four children have expired in the tragic fire incident,” Muhammad Younis,” a spokesman for the Edhi Ambulance service said last night. The dead were identified as seven-year-old Saba, four-year-old Eesha, two-year-old Taiyaba, and newborn Ali Hamza.

The cause of the fire was said to be gas heater.

The tragic incident took place at the house of Javed, a rickshaw driver, in Sawami Nagar near Ghoray Shah at about 02:09pm. The children were sleeping as their parents were at work.

“The mother (who works as a maid at different houses in the area) left her home when the gas heater was burning and children were sleeping,” an official said. “She left several pieces of clothes to dry close to burning heater in the room. It seemed the blaze spread quickly as clothes caught the fire.”

The fire engulfed the entire room within minutes.

An official said the woman had locked her house from outside as she left for work. Locals said they heard children’s hue and cry as the fire erupted. “We rushed to the site after witnessing the fire flames and entered the house after breaking the door lock,” said Aslam, one of the neighbours.

In the meantime, he added, a few firefighting units reached the spot and launched the search and rescue operation. Two children were shifted to the hospital with multiple burns while other two already had expired.

Shaukat, who lives close to the tragedy-hit building, said that all happened within minutes. “The blaze destroyed the entire room within no time. Most of the belongings were reduced to ashes,” he told The Nation. “It was really a big tragedy. The children were so cute. I saw them playing in the street on several occasions,” Shaukat said.

A good number of locals gathered on the spot soon after the incident. They were seen dejected. The grief-stricken parents reached the hospital as they came to know about the incident. They were seen screaming and weeping bitterly.

In another unfortunate incident, three boys of a family were crushed to death under a tractor trolley in Baghbanpura area early Wednesday.

The victims were identified by police as 19-year-old Tahir, and his two cousins including 9-year-old Muhammad Ahmed and 8-year-old Abdullah.

Police said Tahir, riding on a motorcycle along with his cousins, was on the way home when a tractor-trolley bumped into their two-wheeler on a busy road in Daroghawala. As a result, all the three motorcyclists died on the spot.

The police reached the spot and impounded the tractor trolley. However, the driver managed to escape from the scene. The police later handed over the bodies to the family. Further investigation was underway.