Seven Pakistanis, including four children, were killed in a house fire on Friday in Chestermere, Alberta, Canada, according to local and foreign media reports.
Two families were visiting with each other over the Canada Day holiday when seven of them, including four children, died in a house fire.
According to details, a man and his wife and children from Ontario were staying with his brother and his brother’s wife and children at the house, when the fire erupted early Friday.
When the fire erupted, the man who owns the home was able to grab his two children on the way out. He then went back inside and got two of his brother’s children out of the home. However, he was unable to go back in again and rescue the rest of his family as the whole house was on fire.
A neighbour surveillance video shows the house went up in flames within about three minutes.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Corporal (RCMP) Tammy Keibel, while speaking to CBC, said that five people had managed to escape the fire and seven had been found dead in the house.
The deceased include a 38-year-old man and woman, a 35-year-old woman, a 12-year-old boy and girl, an eight-year-old girl and a four-year-old boy.
“It’s a very tragic situation,” CBC quoted Keibel as saying. She also told the Canadian news agency that the cause of the fire had not been determined but preliminary investigation did not indicate any criminal activity.
In a statement carried by The Associated Press of Pakistan on the incident, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said: “I am deeply grieved over the loss of Pakistani nationals in a fire incident. We are in contact with the Canadian authorities for [an] investigation into the incident.”
He also prayed for the departed souls and for strength to the bereaved family to bear the loss with fortitude, said the statement, adding that he also ordered extension of wide-ranging support to the affected family.
The statement also said that on the foreign minister’s instructions, Pakistan’s high commissioner to Canada and its consulate in Vancouver were in constant contact with the family.
Meanwhile, a statement from the Foreign Office (FO) also expressed its condolences and said it was “deeply saddened by the tragic death, due to house fire, of seven Canadian-Pakistanis, including four children, in Alberta, Canada.”
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims of this tragic incident. We also pray for quick and full recovery of the injured.”
The FO statement said that the Pakistan Consulate General in Vancouver was in contact with the relevant Canadian authorities to determine the facts of the incident and offer “all possible assistance” to the bereaved family.
“As per the relevant Canadian authorities, the cause of the fire is still unknown, however, preliminary investigations indicate that it’s not criminal in nature,” said the FO statement.
