Yellow Plaza flames highlight weak oversight, thin resources and a safety culture on paper
Smoke billows from Karachi’s Gul Plaza after a massive fire. Photo: INP
KARACHI:
About 80 people remain missing and at least 26 have been confirmed dead after a devastating fire tore through Gul Plaza Mall, gutting the building and trapping dozens inside. The fire raged for more than 36 hours before being brought under control as thick smoke, repeated water shortages and limited equipment slowed rescue efforts.
Shopkeepers estimate losses running into billions of rupees, wiping out years of investment in a matter of hours. Many traders described scenes of chaos and desperation and accused rescuers and the Sindh government of a delayed and inadequate response. Eyewitnesses and affected shopkeepers said the fire brigade arrived late, firefighters lacked proper machinery and rescuers did not have protective masks, preventing them from entering the building in critical early hours. Several claimed the water ran out repeatedly, forcing operations to stop and allowing the fire to intensify into a third-degree blaze.
The Gul Plaza tragedy has once again exposed Karachi’s chronic fire safety failings – problems that go far beyond a single building and point to a deeper institutional breakdown across the city’s commercial and industrial zones.
“There is no proper system in place,” told a former director general of the Export Processing Zone (EPZ). Express Pakinomistcomments on recurring fires in the industrial area. He said the zone lacks both effective internal security mechanisms and meaningful external oversight, creating conditions where disasters are almost inevitable.
Even a cursory online search of the EPZ paints a disturbing picture, with headlines dominated by fires rather than industrial output or export growth. Former Director General of EPZ AD Khawaja, who is also the former IGP Sindh, said the reasons are neither isolated nor random but rooted in systemic failures, from day-to-day factory operations to the absence of basic fire safety infrastructure. “This is not about a bug or a factory,” he said. “It’s about a system that is failing at every level.”
The Landhi EPZ was established as a cornerstone of Pakistan’s export strategy, offering duty-free imports, tax exemptions and streamlined regulations to attract investment in sectors such as IT, apparel and engineering. Investors were promised modern infrastructure and regulatory support, but these assurances have increasingly been undermined by weak enforcement of safety standards.
Read more: Gul Plaza fire under control after 36 hours; 14 died when Karachi mall was cleared
Khawaja pointed to a lack of continuity in leadership as a major factor. “There is no continuity of leadership,” he said, noting that most EPZ chairmen operate from Islamabad, far away from the reality on the ground. “That disconnect is part of the problem.”
Chief Fire Officer Humayun Khan said the EPZ management’s non-compliance with a Memorandum of Understanding and established safety protocols is a critical issue.
The results are visible. In the past year alone, three major fires have broken out in the EPZ. Preventive measures remain weak, while access for fire services is often blocked. Khan highlighted the danger of basement fires: Without standard operating procedures or proper entry points, firefighters can’t reach the source, allowing flames to spread unchecked.
Karachi’s wider fire preparedness system is equally fragile. A recurring detail in fire reports is the arrival of two snorkels at major incidents. That’s because the city of more than 35 million people only owns two snorkels in total. Moving them over long distances costs precious time, allowing fires to escalate before meaningful action begins.
Official data reflect the scale of the crisis. In 2025, Karachi recorded more than 2,400 fire incidents causing property losses worth millions of rupees. Fire officials say many lives and livelihoods could have been saved with a functional, well-equipped system.
Read more: Fire breaks out at garment factory in Karachi Export Processing Zone
Khawaja said the EPZ does not have a dedicated fire crew. Internal safety systems often cannot be activated early, while delays in external response allow fires to spread, creating a dangerous cycle of institutional inefficiency.
The physical arrangement of the zone increases the risk. Factories are packed close together, many rising five stories on plots as small as 6,000 square meters. “Once a fire starts, containment becomes extremely difficult,” Khawaja said.
Former fire chief Mubeen Ahmed said conditions were not always so bad. “Thirty years ago the system was much better and such incidents were rare,” he said Express Pakinomist. “Over time, management has expanded the zone, stacked factories on top of each other and abandoned inspections. That’s where the risks multiplied.”
Another former fire chief, Zafar Mairaj, said the EPZ, despite falling under the federal government, collects taxes from factories and is responsible for providing fire safety. While the zone has its own fire station, he said it is short-staffed, lacks fire services and cannot respond effectively, forcing the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation to step in. He questioned why EPZ continues to “fail to fulfill these obligations despite having undertaken them.”
Most fires in the zone break out in textile and clothing factories, where highly flammable materials allow flames to spread within minutes. The frequency of such incidents means they barely register beyond the headlines, but taken together they reveal a deeper institutional failure.
That Karachi’s largest industrial hub – a key driver of the city’s economy and national exports – lacks basic fire safety underscores a grim reality: The city that rules the country does not have the systems in place to protect itself.
With only 28 fire stations serving more than 35 million people, officials warn that without a major overhaul of fire safety infrastructure, stricter enforcement of building codes and responsible local management, tragedies like Gul Plaza will continue — at ever-increasing human and financial costs.
