Russian embassy staffer dies of burns

Dawn ^ | April 11, 2002 | Arshad Sharif

[RealistOne]

ISLAMABAD, April 10: A woman staff member of Russian embassy died under mysterious circumstances after sustaining 95 per cent burn injuries here on Tuesday, police and doctors said.

Different versions about the woman's death were given by police, the doctors and the staff of the embassy.

According to police, Famina Ladah, 52, married to Mr Nicoli, was working in the garden of the embassy when the incident happened at 6:20am. "She was trying to burn a pile of woods with kerosene oil when the fire suddenly engulfed her. A cylinder of inflammable material nearby also exploded causing the fire to burn the woman," the police sources said.

The police officials said she was lighting the woods to use its ash for the nourishment of flowers. The woman jumped into the swimming pool as a last desperate effort to save her life, the police officials said.

The doctors in the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, on request of anonymity, said two Russian diplomats accompanying the woman initially termed it a suicide saying the woman burnt herself in her home.

Later, two more diplomats arrived from the embassy and one of them speaking fluent Urdu, told the police that the woman had been assigned the duty of burning papers. She caught fire trying to burn the papers with highly inflammable material, sources said quoting the diplomats as saying to the police.

The husband of the woman did not turn up in the hospital, Pims sources said.

The chairperson, Progressive Woman's Association, Shahnaz Bokhari, who was present at the hospital when the body was taken there, told Dawn that different versions were given by the diplomats to the police. The first statement, given to the hospital authorities was that the woman committed suicide.

The second version, Ms Bokhari said, was that the woman tried to light a burner in her kitchen. The leaked gas in the kitchen caught fire engulfing the woman, she continued, quoting the versions given to the hospital authorities. However, she said, a third version was given when the police arrived at the hospital.

"She was lighting the garbage in the embassy and inflammable material nearby caught fire engulfing her," Ms Bukhari quoted the embassy staff as saying to the police. The police sources said the woman was first taken to a doctor of the embassy and later brought to Pims at around 8pm. However, the Pims sources said, the woman was first taken to Al-Shifa Hospital and then shifted to Pims.

The Secretariat Police Station had not registered any FIR in the case till late night. When contacted for their version, the Russian embassy staff was unavailable for comments.

[Countyline]

Horrors!