A high-rise residential building in Karachi was declared unsafe by the Sindh Building Control Authority (SCBA) on Thursday as a blaze, that erupted a day earlier, raged on in the ground floor superstore.
The building, located near the port city's Jail Chowrangi, was visited by SBCA's Ishaq Khorro on Wednesday night. Observing the fire still raging inside the Chase supermarket, he stated that the intensity of the fire had caused substantial damage to the building’s pillars and structure rendering it uninhabitable.
DG Khorro added that the building would be re-inspected after the fire was brought under control, after which a final decision would be taken on the actual condition of the structure. He added that demolition of various parts of the building had begun.
The fire also resulted in the death of a person and the loss of millions worth of goods.
Rescue officials had earlier declared the blaze category 3 and were unable to extinguish it after more than 22 hours.
The blaze erupted at around 10:30am in the warehouse of Chase Super Store at Samia Bridge View Apartment, a multi-storey building in PECHS Block 3.
The management of the super store tried to extinguish the fire with the available fire extinguishers and also made distress calls for the fire brigade.
Within minutes smoke engulfed the entire 15-storey building creating panic among the residents who rushed out. Many living on upper floors got trapped as the smoke increased and had to be evacuated with the help of bamboo ladder.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ