Three siblings, aged below 10, died in a fire that tore through a settlement at Kudawa in Banke district on Sunday night. Eleven houses were burnt to cinders in the massive fire that started at around 11:30pm.

According to District Police Office in Banke, three children of Munsiram Murau of Dudawa Village Council—Soni (10), Radhana (8) and Pawan (6)—died in the fire. The bodies were taken to Bheri Zonal Hospital in Nepalgunj for postmortem. Munsiram was threshing wheat in his field, while his children were asleep in the house when the incident took place. His six-month-old son and elderly mother survived the incident.

Munsiram, whose wife died six months earlier due to anaemia after giving birth to a baby boy, is speechless now. “He does not speak now. He has to endure one tragedy after another,” said his neighbour Gobardan Mourya.

The security personnel and the locals doused the fire after two and half hours. The villagers could not rescue the victims and salvage their belongings as the fire, fuelled by strong wind, spread in the settlement in no time.

“The cause of the fire is still unknown. The investigation is underway into the incident,” said Superintendent of Police Tek Prasad Rai, while ruling out a foul play.

Chief District Officer Rabilal Pantha visited the incident site and provided Rs10,000 each in relief to the families whose houses were destroyed in the fire. He also announced Rs300,000 as compensation to Munsiram.