Karachi, Jan 19 (PTI) The death toll from a major fire at a shopping mall in Pakistan’s financial capital Karachi rose to 26 on Monday, as the search continues for dozens of missing people, officials said.
Officials said the toll could increase further following the blaze, which broke out late Saturday night at Gul Plaza, a wholesale and retail market housing shops in the basement, mezzanine and three additional floors.
The fire was brought under control by Sunday night, nearly 24 hours after it erupted.
The death toll from the incident has risen to 26 as more bodies were recovered from the now-gutted shopping plaza, Rescue 1122 spokesperson Hassaan Ul Haseeb Khan said in a statement on Monday.
According to Karachi Commissioner Hassan Naqvi, the death toll could surge to over 50.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has announced PKR 10 million (USD 36,000 approx) in compensation for the victims’ families.
“There has been a considerable loss of lives in this incident… We have recovered 15 bodies… As per the latest figures as of 1 pm, around 65 people who were reported to have come to Gul Plaza are missing. So, in total, around 80 people (have died] in this,” Shah said while addressing a press conference earlier in the day.
“There can be no price tag on a life. Their grief cannot be compensated in any way, but we are announcing PKR 10 million from the government for each person who lost their life,” he said.
The compensation will start reaching the affected families from Tuesday, he said.
Shah said that a separate committee had been formed to assess traders’ losses and make recommendations regarding businesses’ rehabilitation.
He said initial estimates showed that traders who had shops in the building had lost around PKR 3 billion worth of merchandise.
Shah said 40 per cent of the building has collapsed, adding that the rest of it was also in a poor state.
“We might need to demolish the entire building,” the chief minister said.
Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab told reporters that around 55 to 60 people, believed to be in the building when the fire broke out, were still missing.
“The rescue teams are doing their best, using thermal cameras and other means, to find these missing people,” he said.
Six bodies were found immediately after the fire broke out. They had died due to suffocation, while dozens of others were sent to hospitals. However, as the fire spread, rescue teams were unable to go in.
“Once the fire was doused, we didn’t wait for the cooling period and forcibly went in to rescue trapped people, and we found eight more bodies, some badly charred,” Rescue 1122 Chief Operating Officer (COO) Abid Jalal said.
He told PTI on Monday morning that the fire had almost completely damaged the building, with one back and one front portion collapsing because of weak pillars.
“The building structure has been weakened by the fire, and we are continuing to search for any remaining people because we could see more structural collapses,” Jalal said.
He said that since 75 per cent of the building was destroyed, the rescue operation is getting difficult.
“The biggest fear for us is that more portions of the building could collapse as it is a dilapidated structure,” Jalal said.
The market, which had around 1,200 shops on all floors, has been one of Karachi’s landmarks since the early 1980s on the main MA Jinnah Road in the Saddar commercial area.
Firefighters said the lack of ventilation in the building caused thick smoke to fill the mall and slowed efforts to reach people trapped inside.
“We are extremely concerned and alarmed. Efforts are going on to find them, but this is a national tragedy,” said Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori, who visited the site Monday morning.
South DIG Syed Asad Raza told the media that the casualties could increase because there was still a lot more space to be covered to find survivors.
He said an electrical short circuit might have caused the fire, but the cause is yet to be confirmed.
Gul Plaza Traders Association President Tanveer Pasta said over 40 shopkeepers and salespersons were among those missing.
Sadiq Tunio, in charge of the Karachi Water Board’s Hydrant Cell, said about 1.4 million gallons of water have so far been used to extinguish the fire.
Gul Plaza is not the first shopping mall to catch fire in Karachi. In recent years, Karachi has witnessed several such incidents due to a lack of safety, inadequate firefighting systems, overloaded electrical systems and illegal constructions.
In 2024, a government audit found that in 266 shopping malls and commercial buildings on major roads, only six had proper fire safety measures, with 62 per cent lacking emergency exits and 70 per cent having substandard electrical systems.
In December 2024, in an adjacent building to Gul Plaza, also built in the early 1980s, fire broke out on two floors but was quickly brought under control.
In 2012, at least 259 people died when a fire broke out in a garment factory in Baldia town. PTI CORR/SCY GSP ZH ZH
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