Six killed as massive fire rages for over 12 hours at shopping centre in southern Pakistan

Firefighters in Pakistan’s largest southern city of Karachi are scrambling to contain a fire that has raged for more than 12 hours in a multistorey shopping centre, killing six people, police said.

The huge fire swept through shops and warehouses at Gul Plaza at MA Jinnah Road in Karachi at around 10pm local time, when most shop owners were winding down their businesses, while some had already left.

Police surgeon, Summaiya Syed, said six bodies had been brought to Karachi’s Civil Hospital and 11 people who had been injured, adding that police were “invoking mass disaster protocols”.

The firefighting operations were still underway, according to the 11.30am update on Sunday from the firefighting unit, Dawn newspaper reported.

Local media reported that parts of the building had started to collapse and rescue officials feared the whole structure could come down.

At least 20 people have been injured in the fire, officials said. Around 20 fire tenders from various agencies were deployed to the site.

By Sunday morning, only about 30 per cent of the fire had been controlled, Rescue 1122 spokesperson Hassaanul Haseeb Khan told Dawn.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known. Police said an investigation would be launched once the blaze was extinguished.

However, officials suspect that the fire began in the ground-floor shops and is believed to have been caused by a short circuit before spreading throughout the mall, according to police officer Mohsin Raza.

Dramatic TV footage showed multiple columns of thick black smoke emanating from the multistorey building as firefighters in protective gear battled the flames. Several fire trucks used ladders, water cannons and hoses to douse the building’s floors, where flames shot out of windows and balconies.

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Many local residents gathered to watch the firefighting operations, as worried family members also queued up.

The shopping mall houses around 1,200 shops selling items including clothing, electrical appliances, cosmetics and perfumes, which fuelled the intensity of the blaze.

Authorities said the fire spread rapidly after erupting in an area of the mall where shopkeepers had stored imported garments, clothing and plastic household goods.

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Fire incidents are common in South Asia, as most structures and other parts of the country lack fire prevention and firefighting systems, which often result in damage and casualties.

Karachi is the capital of southern Sindh province, where such incidents are common.

The incident follows a separate fire a day earlier at the Karachi Port Trust, where at least 20 containers, most carrying electrical batteries, were destroyed.

In November last year, at least 18 workers were killed, and 21 were injured after an explosion at a glue-making factory in Faisalabad city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Police said they had arrested the factory’s manager and were searching for the owner, who fled shortly after the explosion.

Additional reporting by agencies