11 perish in Karachi mall blaze

Fire at six-storey building on Rashid Minhas Road put out after four hours

KARACHI:

At least 11 people were killed and 35 injured on Saturday morning in a fire that erupted at a shopping mall in Karachi’s Gulistan-e-Jahaur neighbourhood, officials said.

More than 60 people were inside the RJ Mall when the fire broke out on one of the lower floors of the six-storey building located on Rashid Minhas Road at 6:10am. Fire brigade officials rescued 45 people and brought them out of the building safely.

They added that the fire rapidly spread from the lower floors to the sixth, destroying dozens of shops.
Firefighters managed to extinguish the blaze after hectic efforts that lasted four hours. Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab Siddiqui said in a post on social media platform X that the fire had been extinguished and the cooling process was under way.

As the fire started engulfing the mall, panic spread among the shopkeepers and workers present in the building. They started shouting for help to save their lives. When the security guards and the people on the ground floor saw the smoke billowing from the building, they informed the fire brigade.

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Initially, the fire brigade personnel reached the mall with two vehicles and started efforts to control the fire. However, the fire started to spread rapidly towards the upper floors and the smoke filled the entire building.

The firefighters then immediately called for backup. A statement issued by the Fire and Rescue spokesperson read that they were informed about the incident at 6:30am.

The spokesperson added that eight fire tenders, two snorkels and two bowsers were sent to the building to extinguish the blaze. The snorkel crew wearing oxygen masks broke the windows of the second, third and fourth floors of the mall and entered the building, taking out 45 people safely.

Those who had fallen unconscious and injured because of burns as well as suffocation were also taken out of the building. They were rushed to the hospital for immediate medical attention.
"Our rescue workers have taken 11 dead bodies to hospitals so far," Shahid Hussain, a spokesperson for the Chippa Welfare Organisation, said.

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He continued that 35 people were injured, with seven of them in serious condition “The fire was started by a generator short circuit and engulfed other floors of the building,” he added. Shabbir Ali, a provincial health ministry spokesperson, confirmed the death toll and number of injured people.

On the top floor of the shopping mall, there were offices of IT companies, including a software warehouse, where work was carried out during day and night shifts. The people killed in the tragedy are believed to be workers of these offices.

Chief Fire Officer Ishtiaq Ahmed told the media that there were no fire extinguishers in the mall and there was only one way into the building, making it difficult to reach inside Police prevented the shopkeepers on the ground floor from opening their businesses while the fire in the building seriously affected the flow of vehicular traffic on Rashid Minhas Road.

A heavy contingent of Sharea Faisal police and Rangers cordoned off the area and removed unrelated people from the scene.

(With input from agencies)