RAWALPINDI: Three children were killed and their parents critically injured in a gas-leak fire in a house at People`s Colony on Sunday morning, witnesses and police said.

Mohammad Ashfaq, 45, who works with the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) as a driver, and his wife Husan Ara, 40, were critically burnt.

The fire erupted when the woman switched on a tubelight early in the morning. Mr Ashfaq`s children, Mohammad Waqar, 19, Mohammad Mohsin, nine, and seven-year-old Hina Ashfaq, who were sleeping in a separate room, were trapped in the fire and burnt alive.

Mr Ashfaq in his statement told the police that he along with his wife was sleeping in a room while his three children were in another room.

He said as his wife got up in the morning and switched on the light a huge explosion occurred followed by the fire. He said his children were keeping a gas stove in their bedroom at night. Sometimes during the night, the stove switched off due to low gas pressure.

Till the gas supply was restored, thechildren might have fallen asleep without turning off the stove. As a result, gas continued leaking into the house till the morning.

Mr Ashfaq sustained 80 per cent and his wife 50 per cent burn injuries and were admitted to hospital.

The bodies were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital for autopsy and later handed over to the relatives.

`It appears that the fire erupted due to the gas leakage,` HasnatAhmed, a police sub-inspector who is investigating the incident, told Dawn.

He added: `On seeing ambulances rushing towards People`s Colony, I thought there was some emergency in the area and soon the police station was flooded with telephone calls from the residents of the neighborhood.

A working woman, who lived in the drawing room of the house on rent, escaped the fire unhurt and later called Rescue 1122 and the police.