KARACHI: A massive fire engulfed a plastic factory in southern Pakistan early Friday morning, according to a rescue service, with firefighters successfully extinguishing the flames after several hours of effort and with no casualties reported.
The blaze erupted in a plastic manufacturing factory at the Sindh Industrial Trading Estate (SITE) in Karachi near Jamia Binoria school.
“A fire broke out at a plastic factory located in the SITE area. As soon as the Central Command and Control Rescue 1122 received the call around 9 AM, Rescue 1122 Sindh personnel were dispatched,” said the statement by the rescue service.
“The fire intensified and engulfed the entire factory,” it continued. “Seven fire brigade vehicles, two water tankers and one snorkel, along with Rescue 1122 personnel, including female officers, reached the scene and brought the fire under control.”
The statement said that during the rescue operation, one firefighter’s condition deteriorated, and he was provided with medical aid on site and then taken to a nearby hospital.
Additionally, a passerby near the factory also fell ill and was given medical aid in the Rescue 1122 ambulance and sent home.
Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city and the main commercial hub, is home to hundreds of thousands of industrial units and some of the tallest buildings in the country.
However, it has a fragile firefighting system and poor safety controls, leading to hundreds of fire incidents annually.
Last November, a blaze at a shopping mall killed around a dozen people and injured several others.
In April 2023, four firefighters died and nearly a dozen others were injured after a fire broke out at a garment factory, while 10 people were killed in another blaze in the city at a chemical factory August 2021.
In the deadliest such incident, 260 people were killed in 2012 after being trapped inside a factory after it was engulfed in flames.
