Karachi fire death toll rises to 72

Karachi: The death toll in the fire at a shopping plaza in Pakistan's Karachi climbed to 72 with a dozen people still reported missing a week after the tragic incident, officials said Sunday.

The fire broke out in the basement of the Gul Shopping Plaza, a wholesale and retail market, and quickly spread to the rest of the building in the Saddar area on January 17 night. It was brought under control only after 36 hours.

A case has been registered over the massive fire incident at the complex that housed nearly 1,200 wholesale and retail shops spread over an area of 8,000 square feet was left dilapidated.

Deputy Commissioner South Javed Nabi Khoso told the media on Sunday that 72 bodies or human remains have been recovered from the rubbles and debris of the shopping plaza.

“The rescue and search operations which have continued for a week now would likely be wound up by tomorrow as the rubbles and debris are also being cleaned up from the building site,” Khoso said.

He said that they still had a list of some 12 people feared missing in the fire.

Dr Summaiya Syed, the police surgeon in Sindh province, said that they had received 72 bodies and human remains since last Sunday.

“The process of identification is very difficult because most of the bodies are badly burnt and charred and in many cases, we have just received body parts in bags from the site,” she said.

Syed said that until now only 22 bodies had been identified with the help of matching DNAs. “Still a lot of work remains to be done before all bodies are identified,” she said.

Around 20 people who were brought to hospitals injured from the building had all been discharged after treatment, she added.

Khoso said search teams are still recovering human remains or parts. “Last night also we found human remains from the debris,” he said. He said a case was registered over the incident on Saturday, however, until investigation was completed it was difficult to say how and where the fire started and why so many people present in the plaza were unable to escape using the exit doors.

Meanwhile, the inferno has brought into focus the lack of fire fighting equipment and safety measures in most commercial buildings, including shopping plazas, malls and office buildings, in Karachi.

Muazzam Khan, a director in the Sindh Building Control Authority, said a fresh audit of many commercial buildings has been carried out after the fire and 30 of them have been issued notices to immediately comply with safety measures.