KARACHI: Police have blamed the management of Karachi’s Gul Plaza shopping center for “criminal negligence” over a January fire that killed more than 70 people, citing locked gates, inadequate firefighting equipment and the absence of emergency lighting that hampered people trying to escape.

The findings broaden responsibility for one of Karachi’s deadliest commercial fires beyond its immediate cause, which police had earlier attributed to an 11-year-old boy playing with matches inside an artificial-flower shop. The latest investigation says the plaza management failed to maintain adequate fire-safety and evacuation arrangements, while clearing emergency and civic agencies of criminal negligence.

“The quantity of fire-safety equipment at Gul Plaza was insufficient,” police said in the charge sheet.

Police said only two gates of the shopping complex were open when the fire broke out and that people were unable to escape because iron gates were locked.

The report also said the management had the building’s electricity supply disconnected despite knowing there was no alternative emergency lighting arrangement, making it harder for people to find their way out.

It further said the Gul Plaza management did not inform the fire brigade about the blaze in a timely manner.

“In view of all the aforementioned reasons, the criminal negligence and carelessness of the Gul Plaza management is clearly established,” the charge sheet said.

The fire broke out on Jan. 17 at the multi-story shopping complex in Karachi’s congested Saddar area and took three days to extinguish. Search and rescue operations continued for over a week amid unstable debris and severely damaged structures.

The investigation examined the response of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, fire brigade, Rescue 1122 and Civil Defense, but said it had not established criminal negligence on their part.

The police investigation continued to attribute the immediate start of the blaze to an 11-year-old boy who investigators say lit matchsticks inside shop No. 193, causing artificial flowers to catch fire and flames to spread through the shopping center.

The charge sheet names the boy’s father, who owned the shop, and three members of the Gul Plaza management among those sent for trial, according to the police report.

A Karachi court in July had rejected an earlier police charge sheet and ordered further investigation, saying investigators had failed to adequately examine whether the fire could have been prevented or whether criminal negligence by relevant authorities contributed to the deaths.

The Sindh government had earlier approved Rs10 million ($35,800) in compensation for each family that lost a relative in the blaze, along with interest-free loans and subsistence support for affected shopkeepers.