Okara: Three minor children were burnt to death as a heavy fire engulfed their room where they were asleepat their Chak 31/GD home.

Rescue 1122 said a call was received on Friday night and they responded to the emergency. Abdullah (6), Qamar Abbas (3) and their Sheza (5) were sleeping on a same charpoy where their parents had lit the fire with dung cakes to repel mosquitoes with its smoke. Their father, Zohar Khan, took their ailing mother to consult a doctor in the village.

Meanwhile, some cloth caught fire which engulfed the room and the children suffered critical burns. The village men rushed to the house to control the fire but Qamar and his Sheza had already burnt to death on the spot. The firefighters were taking Abdullah to hospital when he also died.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Revenue Muhammad Ibrahim Arbab along with Assistant Commissioner Ahsan Mumtaz reached the victim family in their village house to condole with the aggrieved family. All the expenditures of coffin and burial were paid by the district administration.

SUSPENDED: District Police Officer Muhammad Raashid Hidayat suspended a sub inspector (SI) from service and issued notices to four police officials over corruption.

As per the police handout, the Saddar Circle area in-charge narcotics investigation unit SI Aslam was suspended while ASI Omar Ijaz along with three constables, currently posted at the CIA Dipalpur, were issued show-cause notices over corruption and extending unlawful favours to drug paddlers. The DSP legal was nominated as the inquiry officer in the probe. — Correspondent