A massive fire engulfed a multi-storey shopping mall in Pakistan’s Karachi close to closing time on Saturday, gutting shops and killing at least 14 people while dozens were injured, police and rescue officials said, after rescue teams found eight more bodies from the building rubble.
Police said firefighters rushed to Gul Plaza in Pakistan’s largest southern city shortly after 10 pm local time, when most shop owners were closing their stores or had already left. The plaza is a wholesale and retail market which had shops in the basement, mezzanine and three more floors, was brought under control by Sunday night.
But, the fire spread quickly across floors, with authorities saying it had erupted in an area of the mall where shopkeepers had stored imported garments, clothing and plastic household goods, which further fanned the flames. TV footage showed thick black smoke billowing into the night sky and flames shooting out of windows and balconies. Firefighters in protective gear battled the fire for several hours, using ladders from their fire trucks, water cannons and hoses.
Six bodies were found immediately after the fire broke out. They had died due to suffocation while dozens of injured were sent to hospitals. However, as the fire spread, rescue teams were unable to go in.
“Once the fire was doused, we didn’t wait for the cooling period and forcibly went in to rescue trapped people and we found eight more bodies, some badly charred,” Rescue 1122 Chief Operating Officer (COO) Abid Jalal said.
Jalal said on Monday morning that the fire had almost completely damaged the building with one back and one front portion collapsing because of weak pillars.
“The building structure has been weakened by the fire and we are still continuing to search for any remaining people because we could see more structural collapses,” Jalal said.
The market, which had around 1200 shops on all floors, has been one of Karachi’s landmarks since the early 1980s on the main M A Jinnah Road in the Saddar commercial area.
Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori, who came to the site this morning, told the media that 70 people were still trapped inside the building.
“We are extremely concerned and alarmed. Efforts are going on to find them but this is a national tragedy,” Tessori said.
South DIG Syed Asad Raza told the media that the casualties could increase because there was still a lot more space to be covered to find survivors.
While the cause of the fire was not immediately known, police said an investigation would be launched once the blaze was extinguished. However, in Karachi, the capital of southern Sindh province, most structures lack fire prevention and firefighting systems, which often results in damages and casualties.
In 2024, a government audit found that in 266 shopping malls and commercial buildings located on major roads, only six had proper fire safety measures with 62 per cent lacking emergency exits and 70 per cent having substandard electrical systems.
In December 2024, in an adjacent building to Gul Plaza, also built in the early 1980s, fire broke out on two floors but was quickly brought under control.
In 2012, at least 259 people were killed when a fire broke out in a garment factory in Baldia town.
In November 2023, a fire tore through a shopping mall in the city, killing 10 people and injuring 22 others.
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