ISLAMABAD: More than 42,000 Pakistani pilgrims have reached Makkah, Saudi Arabia to perform the annual Hajj pilgrimage since the start of a special flight operation on June 6, the Pakistani religion ministry said on Monday.
The first Hajj flight carrying Pakistani pilgrims departed from Islamabad on June 6. Pakistan has been allotted a quota of 81,132 pilgrims for this year’s Hajj, with 32,000 people using a government scheme and 48,000 traveling through private operators.
“A total of 42,477 [Pakistani] pilgrims have reached Makkah under the government and private schemes,” the Pakistani ministry of religious affairs said in a statement.
Around 16,900 Pakistani pilgrims directly reached Madinah under the government scheme from June 6 to June 16, where they stayed for eight days and were gradually transported to Makkah, according to the statement. Under the private scheme, 3,132 pilgrims reached Madinah, while another 9,239 reached Makkah via Jeddah.
“A total of 30,106 pilgrims are present in Makkah who traveled under the government scheme,” the ministry said.
The Hajj flight operation was ongoing and all pilgrims traveling under the government scheme would be flown to Saudi Arabia by June 30, it added.
Death toll in Pakistan shopping plaza fire rises to 67, officials say
Rescue teams still searching for damaged Gul Plaza in Karachi where blaze erupted on Saturday, says police surgeon
Karachi has a long history of deadly fires, often linked to poor safety standards, weak regulatory enforcement
Updated 22 January 2026
AP
KARACHI: The death toll from a devastating fire at a shopping plaza in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi jumped to 67 on Thursday after police and a hospital official confirmed that the remains of dozens more people had been found.
Police surgeon Dr. Summaiya Syed said rescue teams were still searching the severely damaged Gul Plaza in the Karachi, where the blaze erupted on Saturday.
Most remains were discovered in fragments, making identification extremely difficult, but the deaths of 67 people have been confirmed, she said. Asad Raza, a senior police official in Karachi, also confirmed the death toll. Authorities previously had confirmed 34 deaths.
Family members of the missing have stayed near the destroyed plaza and hospital, even after providing their DNA for testing. Some have tried to enter the building forcibly, criticizing the rescue efforts as too slow.
“They are not conducting the search properly,” said Khair-un-Nisa, pointing toward the rescuers. She stood outside the building in tears, explaining that a relative who had left to go shopping has been missing since the blaze.
Another woman, Saadia Saeed, said her brother has been trapped inside the building since Saturday night, and she does not know what has happened to him.
“I am ready to go inside the plaza to look for him, but police are not allowing me,” she said.
There was no immediate comment from authorities about accusations they have been too slow.
Many relatives of the missing claim more lives could have been saved if the government had acted more swiftly. Authorities have deployed police around the plaza to prevent relatives from entering the unstable structure, while rescuers continue their careful search.
Investigators say the blaze erupted at a time when most shop owners were either closing for the day or had already left. Since then, the Sindh provincial government has said around 70 people were missing after the flames spread rapidly, fueled by goods such as cosmetics, clothing, and plastic items.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, though police have indicated that a short circuit may have triggered the blaze.
Karachi has a long history of deadly fires, often linked to poor safety standards, weak regulatory enforcement, and illegal construction.
In November 2023, a shopping mall fire killed 10 people and injured 22. One of Pakistan’s deadliest industrial disasters occurred in 2012, when a garment factory fire killed at least 260 people.
