Over a dozen shops gutted in plaza fire

ISLAMABAD: One man was killed and more than 29 people injured in a fire that broke out at Hassan Plaza in G-9 Markaz on Wednesday. Over a dozen shops were also scorched in the fire which erupted because of a leaking gas pipeline.

According to eyewitnesses, boring was underway in front of one of the shops during which the gas pipeline was damaged.

Gas started leaking from the pipe and spread into the common basement of the plaza. The fire first erupted in the basement of Shikarpuri Sweets and then quickly spread to other shops in the plaza.

However, authorities said an inquiry into the matter would be needed to ascertain the exact cause of the fire and how it had spread. “It is not clear as to how the fire erupted. Once the rescue and firefighting efforts come to a close and the structure cools down, our investigators will go in to ascertain the fault,” said Senior Superintendent of Police (Operations) Tahir Alam Khan.

Till the filing of this report, efforts were underway to completely extinguish the fire.

However, traders of the market accused the fire-brigade vehicles of arriving at the scene at least an hour late. They claimed that the fire spread due to the continuous gas leakage which was not disconnected by the authorities until two hours had passed.

“Only one Sui Gas employee arrived at the spot to disconnect gas supply to the area and that too after two hours had passed,” said a trader Malik Muhammad Shafiq. He claimed that the fire initially erupted in one shop but spread to others due to continuous supply of gas.

Some people also claimed that they heard low-intensity blasts from the basement. They feared these were caused by the gas cylinders and oil-canisters. The owner of the Shikarpuri Sweets Muhammad Riaz was badly burnt. He was shifted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Science where he succumbed to his injuries. At least 13 of the seriously injured were shifted to the Burns Centre at Pims, while eight others were admitted to the emergency ward. At least nine people with minor injuries were discharged after treatment.

Traders lodged a brief protest with the authorities about the late response from fire and gas departments respectively. They said that the property of many traders could have been saved with a timely response. No senior official from the Sui Gas department was available for comment but the fire department officials said that they had responded on time.  Rescue efforts were underway till the filing of this report and some eyewitnesses suspected that people were still trapped in the basement.

“A search operation will be launched as soon as we get clearance from the fire department,” Alam said. Sniffer dogs were called in to assist the search operation. The fire and rescue department of the Capital Development Authority had also called in the help of excavators to dig into the gutted shops.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 15^th, 2010.