- Firefighters are searching for around 70 missing people.
- Rescue efforts are hampered by an unstable structure and debris.
- Anger mounts at the speed of response and the government orders an investigation.
Firefighters and rescue workers on Monday remove bodies from the smoldering remains of Karachi’s sprawling Gul Plaza, where around 70 people are still missing after a massive fire that killed at least 26 people.
The city’s biggest fire in more than a decade broke out Saturday evening, which houses 1,200 stores in a multi-story complex spread over an area larger than a football field. The fire in the historic center of Karachi 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 cleaning up twisted metal and debris strewn across the street, as well as fallen air conditioners and store signs.
Most of the building had collapsed by Monday afternoon; cranes demolished the remaining structure, fearing it would collapse.
Qasir Khan said his wife, daughter-in-law and mother had gone to the mall on Saturday evening 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 the 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 traders whose life’s work was reduced to ashes overnight.
“We have been left behind, reduced to zero; 20 years of hard work gone,” said store owner Yasmeen Bano.
Anger at the fire
Rescuers carried the human remains in bags before sending them for DNA testing. They stopped regularly to drink water after enduring the intense heat of the debris.
Anger boiled over when Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab visited the scene on Sunday evening, with people chanting anti-government slogans and protesting the response time of firefighters.
Kosar Bano said six members of his family had gone to the mall to shop for a wedding. The last time she heard from them, they said they would be home in 15 minutes.
“The only hope we have is how many hands we find, how many fingers we find and how many legs we find. That’s it,” she said.
Thick smoke filled the building
According to emergency services, authorities received the first emergency call at 10:38 p.m. on Saturday, reporting that the ground floor shops were on fire. When firefighters arrived, the flames had already spread to the upper floors, engulfing a large part of the building.
Images from inside the mall revealed the charred remains of stores 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 slow efforts to reach people trapped inside.
“I admit there are flaws. I cannot say whose fault it is. An investigation will be conducted and heads will roll,” Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said.
Provincial police chief Javed Alam Odho had earlier said the fire was caused by an electrical fault, but Shah said the reason was still unknown.
The fire could be the largest in Karachi since an industrial site caught fire in 2012, killing more than 260 people. A court ruled in 2020 that the disaster involved arson.
