KARACHI: When smoke started seeping from the ducts at the sprawling Gul Plaza shopping complex in Karachi late on Saturday, those inside thought a small fire had broken out in a corner of the mall.
But the flames spread quickly, leaping through a structure housing 1,200 shops in Karachi’s historic centre.
“It engulfed the whole mall in front of our eyes,” shopkeeper Shahbaz Iqbal, 27, told Reuters on Monday after the fire was largely extinguished following a 24-hour firefight. Authorities said more than 60 people were still missing and 21 have been killed.
“We thought it was a small fire. No one ever thought it would be this bad.”
Iqbal and his colleagues ran upstairs and out of the mall from one of the basement exits, but those coming from the upper floors were not so lucky. As the facility was about to close, most of the mall’s gates were locked.
This was told by senior police official Syed Asad Raza Reuters that all but three of the mall’s 16 exits were locked.
“When I went in (to the building), I saw the locks,” said rescue worker Aqeel, who declined to share his full name as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Gul Plaza management did not immediately respond to a request for comment Reuters.
‘All My People’
As rescue workers dug through piles of debris, human remains were pulled out of the building in white cotton sheets turned into makeshift sacks.
Shafi Ahmed, who owned a shop in the basement, stood with his hands together in prayer.
When asked if anyone he knew was inside, he said five of his friends were back at the mall.
“These are all our people. These are all my people. These are our people,” he said, breaking into tears.
Police struggled to contain grieving families and shopkeepers who said they had lost everything.
At one point, officials discovered a drawer full of money, prompting a fight to break out among shopkeepers who claimed it was theirs.
Rising anger
Hundreds of protesters gathered around the smoldering remains of the building on Monday, calling for accountability from the authorities.
Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has promised an investigation into the fire and response time, while Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab, who arrived at the scene almost 24 hours after the fire broke out, was met with jeers from the angry crowd.
Roads still under construction outside Gul Plaza were flooded with water after the firefight. Rescue officials sat in a tent outside the building and recorded the names of the missing.
Razia, 40, who goes by one name, said six of her relatives worked in the building.
“One of them jumped out with two of his friends. One of the friends broke his legs and the other died on the spot,” she said, describing the account of the relative, her nephew.
Another of her family members, a florist named Ibrar, did not make it out. He broke down a door to help others escape, “but he is still stuck … no one has heard from him since Saturday,” Razia said.
