Physically-challenged girl dies after fire breaks out in house

A 10-year-old physically-challenged girl was burnt alive in a fire that broke out in her house at Shanti Nagar in Manimajra on Thursday evening.

Leading fireman Satpal Singh said the victim had been identified as Himanshi, daughter Nitin Kumar, a UT police constable posted with the police control room (PCR).

The incident took place around 5pm when the victim was in the house with her sixyear-old younger brother.

The victims’ mother, Sangeeta, was away to market and her father was on duty. The family was staying at one-room rented accommodation.

The police said Himanshi and her brother were playing with a match box which led to the fire. While she suffered 80% burns, her brother ran out of the house as soon as the fire broke out.

When the firemen entered the room, they saw her lying on the floor.

She was rushed to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, where she was declared brought dead, the police said.

It took two fire tender around 20 minutes to douse the flames. Himanshi’s mother Sangeeta fell unconscious after seeing the house on fire and was rushed to private hospital in Manimajra.

House owner Nancy said: “It all happened so quickly and we could not get time to react and could not save her.”