ISLAMABAD: A fire that tore through a shopping plaza in Pakistan’s largest city of Karachi has killed at least 55 people, officials said on Thursday, as the Sindh government announced an independent inquiry into the disaster and vowed action if negligence is found.
The blaze broke out late Saturday at Gul Plaza, a three-story commercial building in Karachi’s congested Saddar district, burning for more than 24 hours before being brought under control. Dozens of people remain missing as rescue teams continue to search through the wreckage.
Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said during a televised news conference Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had constituted a committee to investigate the incident, stressing that authorities would not speculate on the cause of the fire until the inquiry is completed.
“For the inquiry, the chief minister has made a committee which has been mandated to conduct an impartial and independent investigation,” he said. “Whatever report comes after that inquiry, the government will take action on it. If there is any negligence, the government will definitely take action.”
Memon said the committee would examine all aspects of the incident, including how the fire started and how rescue operations were carried out.
“Every angle is being investigated in detail to find out what happened and why,” he said.
According to AFP, 55 bodies have been recovered since the fire incident, deputy commissioner for Karachi’s south district Javed Nabi Khoso said. More than 50 families have also provided DNA samples to help identify remains that were badly burned.
Municipal teams from the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation have stepped up debris-removal operations under strict safety measures, with rubble being shifted to a designated site in the city’s Meva Shah area.
Authorities have placed all relevant departments on alert as rain is forecast in the coming days, raising concerns about further risks at the unstable structure.
Memon said the provincial government had also decided to provide Rs10 million ($35,720) to the family of each person who lost their life in the blaze, noting that many victims were breadwinners.
“The government went beyond its usual practices and said that families of those who lost their precious lives will be given Rs10 million,” he said.
Deadly fires are a recurring problem in Karachi, a city of more than 20 million people, where markets and factories often suffer from faulty wiring, overcrowding, illegal construction and weak enforcement of safety regulations. While such incidents are common, officials say a blaze on this scale is rare.
