- Firefighters are looking for around 70 missing people.
- Rescue efforts hampered by unstable structure, debris.
- Anger rises over speed of response, inquiry from government orders.
Firefighters and rescue workers pull bodies from the smoldering remains of the sprawling Gul Plaza in Karachi on Monday, where around 70 people are still missing after a massive fire that killed at least 26.
The city’s biggest fire in over a decade started late on Saturday, which houses 1,200 shops in the multi-storey complex spread over an area bigger than a football pitch. The fire in Karachi’s historic center raged for more than 24 hours before it was largely extinguished.
Videos showed flames tearing through the building as firefighters worked through the night to put out the blaze. On Monday, they began cooling the structure and clearing twisted metal and debris strewn across the street, along with fallen air conditioners and store signs.
Most of the building had crumbled by Monday afternoon; cranes tore down the remaining structure amid fears it might collapse.
Qasir Khan said his wife, daughter-in-law and her mother had gone to the mall on Saturday night and were among those still missing.
“The bodies will come out in pieces from here. No one will be able to recognize them,” Khan said, blaming rescue efforts for not being fast enough. “They could have saved a lot of people.”
Hundreds of people surrounded the building as rescue teams searched for survivors, including shopkeepers whose life’s work was reduced to ashes overnight.
“We have been left high and dry, reduced to nothing; 20 years of hard work, all gone,” said shop owner Yasmeen Bano.
Anger over the fire
Rescue workers were bagging human remains before sending them for DNA testing. They stopped regularly to drink water after enduring intense heat from the debris.
Anger bubbled when Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab visited the site on Sunday night, where people shouted anti-government slogans and protested the fire department’s response time.
Kosar Bano said six of her family had gone to the mall to shop for a wedding. The last she heard from them, they said they would be home in 15 minutes.
“The only hope we have is how many hands we’ll find, how many fingers we’ll find and how many legs we’ll find. That’s it,” she said.
Thick smoke filled the building
According to the emergency services, the authorities received the first emergency call at 22:38 (1738 GMT) Saturday and reported that shops on the ground floor were on fire. By the time firefighters arrived, flames had already spread to the upper floors and engulfed much of the building.
Pictures of the mall’s interior revealed the charred remains of shops and a bright orange glow as flames continued to rise throughout the building.
Firefighters said Gul Plaza’s lack of ventilation caused thick smoke to fill the building and slowed efforts to reach people trapped inside.
“I admit there are mistakes. I cannot say whose fault this is. An inquiry will be conducted and heads will roll,” Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said.
Provincial police chief Javed Alam Odho earlier said the fire was caused by an electrical fault, but Shah said the cause was still unknown.
The fire could be Karachi’s biggest since an industrial estate went up in flames in 2012, killing more than 260 people. A court ruled in 2020 that the disaster involved arson.
