Himachal Pradesh: Four children from Bihar burnt alive as slum catches fire in Una

Police sources said that the deceased included Ramesh Das's three children, Neetu (14), Golu Kumar (7), Shivam Kumar (6) and their relative Kalidas's son Sonu Kumar (17), who was sleeping along with them.

Una(Himachal Pradesh): Himachal Pradesh: Four children including three siblings were burnt alive late on Wednesday night after two shanties caught fire in the Amb sub-division of Una district, police sources said. The incident took place in the 'Bane di Hatti' area. Police said that the affected families are from Bihar's Darbhanga district.

According to police sources three of the deceased have been identified as the children of Ramesh Das namely Neetu Kumari (14), Golu Kumar (7), and Shivam Kumar (6). They also said that another deceased Sonu Kumar (17) the son of Ramesh's relative Kalidas was sleeping with them. Both Ramesh and Kalidas are migrant workers.

" Four children died as two slums caught fire in the Amb sub-division of Una district. The bodies have been sent for post-mortem to the regional hospital in Una. A case has been registered and an investigation is going on," SP Una Arjit Sen Thakur said.

According to police sources, the huts belonging to Bhadeshwar Das and Ramesh Das suddenly went up in flames on Wednesday night adding that the reason behind the blaze was yet to be ascertained. Ramesh said that he and his wife were sleeping in another slum.

They further revealed that Fire Brigade personnel rushed to the spot and tried to douse the flames but even before the blaze could be brought under control the children were burnt alive.

Following the incident, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri expressed grief over the deaths and instructed concerned officials to provide relief to the affected families at the earliest possible.