KARACHI: When smoke started coming from the ducts of the sprawling Gul Plaza shopping complex in Karachi on Saturday evening, people inside thought a small fire had broken out in a corner of the mall.
But the flames spread quickly, burning through a structure housing 1,200 stores in Karachi’s historic center.
“It engulfed the entire mall before our eyes,” said shopkeeper Shahbaz Iqbal, 27. Reuters Monday after the fire was largely extinguished following a 24-hour firefight. Authorities said more than 60 people were still missing and 21 people had 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 through one of the basement exits, but those coming from the upper floors were not so lucky. With the establishment due to close soon, most of the mall’s doors were locked.
A senior police officer, Syed Asad Raza, said Reuters that all but three of the mall’s 16 exits were locked.
“When I entered (the building), I saw the locks,” said rescuer Aqeel, who declined to release his full name because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Gul Plaza management did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
‘All my people’
As rescuers searched through piles of debris, human remains were removed from the building in white cotton sheets made into makeshift bags.
Shafi Ahmed, owner of a basement store, stood with his hands folded in prayer.
When asked if anyone he knew was inside, he said five of his friends remained in the mall.
“These are all our people. These are all my people. These are our people,” he said, breaking down in tears.
Police struggled to hold back grieving families and shopkeepers who claimed to have lost everything.
At one point, authorities discovered a drawer full of money, sparking a fight between the shopkeepers claiming the money belonged to them.
Rising anger
Hundreds of protesters gathered around the smoldering remains of the building on Monday, calling for authorities to be held to account.
Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah promised an investigation into the fire and a response time, while Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab, who arrived at the scene almost 24 hours after the fire started, was greeted by boos from the angry crowd.
Roads still under construction outside Gul Plaza were flooded with water after the exchange of fire. Rescuers sat in a tent outside the building and took down the names of the missing.
Razia, 40, who goes by one name, said six of her relatives worked in the construction.
“One of them jumped with two of his friends. One of the friends broke his legs and the other died instantly,” she said, describing the story of a relative, her nephew.
Another member of his family, a flower shop employee named Ibrar, did not survive. He broke down a door to help others escape, “but he’s still stuck… no one has heard from him since Saturday,” Razia said.
