Karachi, November 26, 2023 : Following a deadly fire that resulted in 11 casualties, the Karachi administration has sealed the shopping mall on Rashid Minhas Road.
A massive fire in Karachi’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar area claimed the lives of eleven individuals and left five others injured in the early hours of Saturday morning. Officials attribute the fatalities to the absence of ventilation in the Shopping Mall.
Post-mortem examinations on the nine bodies revealed that all victims died from suffocation. Rescue officials reported that the fire, which started around 6:30 am, engulfed the fourth, fifth, and sixth floors of the shopping mall.
Caretaker Sindh Chief Minister, retired Justice Maqbool Baqar, has mandated a safety audit for all commercial buildings, public areas, and offices. He emphasized that fire incidents were occurring due to the neglect of the inspection system in the city.
The Chief Minister instructed the Sindh Building Control Authority, Provincial Disaster Management Authority, Civil Defence, and relevant deputy commissioners/assistant commissioners to conduct safety audits for public and commercial buildings, educational institutions, and government offices. They are required to submit a report with recommendations.
Karachi, the economic hub of the country with a population of 20.3 million, boasts an extensive network of factories and towering high-rises. However, the city’s firefighting infrastructure is insufficient to cope with its frequent fire incidents.
During a recent symposium, urban planners and engineers revealed that approximately 90 percent of all structures in Karachi, including residential, commercial, and industrial buildings, lack fire prevention and firefighting systems.
