City witnesses over 2,300 fire incidents

At least 16 people died in Mehran Town inferno

KARACHI:

This year, there were more than 2,300 fire incidents in different parts of the city, in which precious lives were lost while heavy financial losses were incurred.

Most of the incidents were blamed on faulty wiring. Many questions were raised on fire safety and availability of fire exits that could have helped save human lives.

The most dangerous fire of this year broke out at a travel-bag making factory in Mehran Town, Korangi Industrial Area in which 16 people died.

The factory owner and the landlord were arrested by police, and later acquired bail following compensation agreement with the heirs. The Sindh government made a separate announcement of paying a million rupees to heirs of each victim.

The fire at the Cooperative Market and Victoria Center in Saddar resulted in the burning of garments, cloth, shops, warehouses and other goods worth millions of rupees.

The highest incidents of 258 fires this year were reported within the limits of Saddar Fire Station, while the highest number of 273 fires occurred in November.

According to the fire brigade, 224 fires were reported in January this year, 200 in February, 179 in March, 197 in April, 165 in May, 196 in June and 161 in July, 136 in August, 141 in September, 188 in October, 273 in November and about 270 in December.

Dr Farhat Hussain Mirza, a forensic medicine specialist and former police surgeon, and five other people including his elder brother and two sisters, were killed during a fire which erupted on the ground floor and first floor of his bungalow on Tipu Sultan Road on August 12 this year.

On August 27 this year, a fire broke out in a factory in Korangi's Mehran Town. At least 16 people died in the factory, which was locked up like a prison.

More than 450 shops and their garments, clothes and other items were burnt to ashes in a horrific fire at Saddar's Cooperative Market on November 14 this year. The shopkeepers said that billions of rupees were lost as a result of the fire.

A few days after the incident, on November 17, shops and warehouses on the fifth floor of the Victoria Center on Abdullah Haroon Road, Zainab Market, Saddar caught fire, burning clothes and other goods worth millions of rupees to ashes.

While the fire department blames the people for ignoring faulty wirings, people allege that the fire tenders never come on time.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 31^st, 2021.