Police register FIR against Regent Plaza hotel management

Inquiry report points negligence, non-implementation of security plan during Dec 5 fire incident

KARACHI: A case was registered against the Regent Plaza Hotel management, including chief executive Muzaffar Baweja and managing director Zubair Baweja among others on Thursday.

An FIR was registered at the Saddar police station in light of an inquiry report submitted by the home department to the Sindh chief minister. The inquiry report pointed towards negligence and non-implementation of security plan on part of the hotel management.

According to South SSP Saqib Ismail Memon, those nominated in the FIR did not implement the security plan and did not inform the fire brigade in timely fashion, which led to the deaths of 12 innocent people and injuries of many others. The hotel management also delayed informing the police, said SSP Memon.



The civil defence and hotel management were deemed responsible for the fire, according to a home department report submitted to the Sindh chief minister. Home secretary Shakeel Mangnejo had recommended strict action against the officials of the civil defence and hotel management for their negligence. “This tragic incident and the loss of lives could have been avoided if the hotel had been properly inspected by the authorities concerned,” stated the report, adding that there was no fire-fighting system in place within the hotel. The kitchen, from where the fire spread, also had no fire-safety system.

Sharing the details of the report, an official in the home department said that all but one emergency exits of the hotel were closed and the staff has no knowledge of how to extinguish the fire nor was a fire-safety system in place. “Instead of helping the guests, most of the staff managed to escape the scene,” the report said, adding that the smoke was spread through the air-conditioning (AC) ducts.

“No one [bothered] to switch off the electricity or AC system, which stayed on, causing havoc inside the hotel,” said the official.

The report stated that there were three emergency exits in the hotel. One was located in front of the elevator, the other in the parking areas and the third was located on the Jinnah hospital side, but two were non-functional while only one exit near a lift was in use.

Regarding the alarm system, it has been reported that out of the two alarms, neither worked at the time of the emergency.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Mangnejo said that for quite some time, the civil defence officials had not visited the hotel and vowed that the government will take strict action against them.

Tehseen Siddiqui, the chief fire officer of the fire brigade department, said that they have now informed the higher authorities that a short circuit was the cause of the fire. “We have no forensic expertise,” he said. “We cannot scientifically prove the cause of the fire but it has been determined as per ground realities and our experience.” He added that the incident officer has submitted a report to him declaring the cause of the fire to be a short circuit.

“Soon after the fire, I personally visited the hotel and its kitchen from where the fire erupted,” he said. “It was completely damaged.” Siddiqui added that out of the 12 people who perished in the fire, one was partially burnt while the others died due to suffocation. When asked whether he has submitted the report to home secretary or chief minister, he confirmed that he had.

A member of the inquiry committee, requesting anonymity, said that electrical inspectors had informed the hotel owners in 2015 that the electrical installations inside the hotel were very dangerous and major non-compliances were in violation of the Electricity Act.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9^th, 2016.