Ferozepur: Sukhwinder Kaur’s face was grotesquely swollen, her skin scorched from head to toe. She was almost unrecognisable. Her husband, Lakhwinder Singh, lay wrapped in bandages, his lips painfully puffed, his eyes swollen shut. Their relatives wailed around them—some chanting prayers, hoping they would survive.
Lying helpless in the surgical ICU of Anil Baghi Hospital in Punjab’s Ferozepur district, their son, Jaswant Singh alias Monu, strained to catch a glimpse of his parents through the glass corners of the door as they were shifted to a specialised burn unit in Ludhiana. He could barely move due to the splinter injury he had sustained.
What started as an ordinary dinner for the family of three in Khai Feme Ke village turned catastrophic. Around 8 pm Friday, Lakhwinder, 55, his wife Sukhwinder, 50, and 27-year-old Jaswant sat for an early dinner owing to a district-wide blackout. They had just taken their first bites when an explosive landed on their car and exploded—possibly remnants of a drone, according to police officials.
The impact struck their car, parked under a shed housing their cattle, and then a cylinder near where they cook. This was barely 5-10 metres from where they sat. The blast tore through the area where the family sat, engulfing them in fire.
“We had just sat down to have our roti. Something heavy fell on the car and exploded. My mother was the nearest, then my father. I was on the other side. Suddenly everything turned black. My mother couldn’t move at all,” Jaswant, a farmer, told ThePrint.
Doctors at Anil Baghi Hospital told ThePrint that Sukhwinder had suffered 100 percent burns, while Lakhwinder sustained 72 percent burn injuries.
The attack occurred amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan. Following India’s Operation Sindoor in response to the 22 April Pahalgam terror attack, Pakistan had made several attempts to target civilian areas and military installations across the western and northern sectors of India, including Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Gujarat.
An agreement was reached between India and Pakistan late Saturday evening to pause all hostilities. However, despite the announcement, Ferozepur experienced another blackout overnight. Several sensitive areas across Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir saw continued shelling and firing even after the ceasefire annoucement—making the Friday night blast in Khai Feme Ke one of the final civilian casualties before the truce.
India had, on 6 May, launched Operation Sindoor, neutralising nine terror camps belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Since then, Pakistan had been launching drones, many of which were intercepted by Indian air defence systems.
Ferozepur, a border district, had been placed on high alert. Khai Feme Ke, being even closer to the border, was especially vulnerable. The area had seen multiple blackouts in recent days, including on the night of the strike.
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Charred car, grunting cattle, shattered kin
As Lakhwinder and Sukhwinder were taken to Ludhiana, family members wept. Lakhwinder’s maternal aunt, 75-year-old Vidya Kaur, couldn’t fathom why something of this magnitude had happened to them.
“I came rushing from Moga as soon as I heard. I can’t comprehend how and why this happened,” she said.
Standing beside her, Gardev Kaur, 45, Jaswant’s sister-in-law, cried out, “What have we done? We didn’t want this war to happen. Pakistan is a rogue nation. They are hurting innocents. First Pahalgam, and now here in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.”
Back in the village, locals debated why the drone targeted this family. Some speculated whether a light had been left on. Others wondered if it was the car’s headlight. Jaswant insisted the lights were off. The family had been eating in an open space with no roof, a spot they also used for cooking.
“Car headlights were off. It was just parked there,” he said. Senior police officials confirmed that while the car’s lights were off, it was possible that another source of light—perhaps a candle—had drawn the explosive device to the location.
Meanwhile, Ferozepur continued to reel under fear and grief. Even without official orders, residents shut shops and hotels, choosing to remain indoors.
“My sister-in-law and brother are both so critical. Only God can save them now,” said Malkar Singh, Lakhwinder’s brother, wiping away tears. “The family has been destroyed. How will anyone come back from this?”
At the Singh home, media personnel, police officers, and villagers crowded around. Although security forces had cleared the debris, the burnt frame of the car and scorched ground bore grim testimony to the night’s horror.
Two buffaloes, who also sustained burn injuries in the blast, grunted in pain throughout the day. Some local residents applied medicine to their wounds.
“Loosen their noose. Give them water,” Malkar shouted, trying to calm the injured animals.
(Edited by Radifah Kabir)