Shopping plaza kept burning for 13 hours in Karachi, now 14 people died in the fire, more than 70 missing

Islamabad, 19 January. The death toll in the massive fire that broke out at Gul Plaza Shopping Mall in Karachi, Pakistan on Saturday night increased to 14 on Monday. According to local media, rescue teams found eight more bodies at the scene. Apart from this, information about more than 70 people missing has also come to light. Search operation is going on for all the missing people. It took a lot of effort to control the fire. People have criticized the Sindh government and the Mayor of Karachi for the delay in action. According to a report in Pakistani newspaper Dawn, the fire could have been controlled earlier, but due to late action and less resources on the part of the administration, the fire continued to rage without stopping for 13 hours.

Pakistani media reported that traders and people of the area said that timely action by the nearest fire station, other civic bodies and local authorities could have avoided much of the damage, yet the work of extinguishing the fire could have started properly on Sunday morning. A local told Dawn that they were repeatedly told on Saturday night that there was water shortage, which hampered operations. Meanwhile, Sindh Governor Kamran Tesori visited the spot on Monday to take stock of the situation. “The reports of more than 70 people missing are very worrying and a major tragedy. A pregnant woman is still trapped inside and a search is on. This incident has now become a national tragedy,” Dawn quoted the governor as saying.

South DIG Syed Asad Raza told Dawn that the fire safety operation has been completed. “People from KMC, TMC and Pakistan Navy have now started the cooling process along with removing debris from the site,” he said. Rescue operation is going on and further information is awaited. Earlier, rescue officials had said that the fire had been burning for the last 13 hours and a lot of effort had to be put into controlling it. Due to this, many parts of the building collapsed due to the intense heat on Sunday morning.

Health officials had also said that at least four people were brought to the Civil Hospital Trauma Centre, while two people were brought to the burn ward. A total of 15 injured people were taken to Civil Hospital Trauma Centre. Of these, 14 have been discharged. The two injured people were taken to Jinnah Hospital and were discharged after treatment. Fire officer chief Humayun Khan told Geo News that Gul Plaza is built on two acres. The fire is still burning at the edges of the plaza and the building has been declared a complete ruin. Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) officials will take stock of the situation and give their decision in this matter.

Khan told that due to very high temperature in the building, there was difficulty in going inside. Due to this, there are a lot of problems in running rescue and search operations. The plaza is packed on all sides and does not have a proper ventilation system. This is also one of the reasons why there was a lot of difficulty in extinguishing the fire. Sindh Emergency Service Rescue 1122 Chief Operating Officer Abid Jalaluddin Shaikh said 20 fire tenders and four snorkels were engaged in extinguishing the fire from three sides of Gul Plaza.