8 Pakistani pilgrim s dead in M akkah hotel fire

Isla Ma ba D:eight Pakistani pilgrims died while six others were injured in a fire incident at a hotel in the Holy City of Makkah, Saudi Arabia, the Foreign Office (FO) said on Saturday.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the FO said, “In an unfortunate fire incident in a hotel in Makkah, we have reports of eight deaths and six injured Pakistanis in the incident.

“Our Mission in Jeddah is in contact with local authorities to provide relief to the victims and their families,” it added.

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif expressed deep grief and sorrow over the death of the Pakistani pilgrims, state-run Radio Pakistan reported.

It further said the premier expressed his condolences and sympathies with the bereaved families.

He also prayed for the high ranks of the departed souls and for the bereaved families to bear the loss with fortitude.

The prime minister directed the Ministry of Religious Affairs to look ater the health of injured pilgrims and provide all possible facilities to the bereaved families.

According to Dawn News, Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori also expressed his condolences as well and said he stood “with the bereaved families in this moment of grief.”

In a separate development, three soldiers killed on Saturday while bravely thwarting terrorists’ attack on the security forces’ checkpost in Zarghoon, Marget area of Balochistan province.

According to the Inter-services Public Relations (ISPR), a group of terrorists atacked a checkpost established in Zarghoon area.

It added that the checkpost had recently been established to help check extortion efforts targeting coal mines in the area. The troops on the post had retaliated readily to the fire raid thereby, pushing back the terrorists.

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif strongly condemned the atack. He paid tribute to the martyred jawans of Pakistan army including sepoy Zameer Ahmad, Sepoy Mudassar and Lance Naik Abdul Qadeer, PM Office Media Wing said in a press release.