11 dead, over 60 missing after Pakistan shopping centre fire smoulders for 24 hours

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AdvertisementPakistanAsiaSouth Asia11 dead, over 60 missing after Pakistan shopping centre fire smoulders for 24 hours

Police say the market’s layout and presence of flammable materials such as carpets and blankets kept the blaze going throughout the weekend

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Locals gather to observe a massive fire sweeping through a shopping mall in Karachi on Sunday. Photo: Xinhua

ReutersFirefighters in Karachi began searching on ‌Monday for more than 60 missing people after a massive fire destroyed a shopping centre in Pakistan’s most populous city, while the death toll from the disaster rose to 11.

The fire started late on Saturday at the sprawling, multi-storey Gul Plaza in the city’s business district and ⁠burned for more than a day, hampering rescue efforts in the densely packed area.

After more than 24 hours of firefighting, crews moved to cooling and debris clearing on Sunday, although concerns grew that more victims could still be trapped inside.

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Police surgeon Summaiya Syed said the death toll had risen to 11, while Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab said on Sunday that more than 60 people were still missing.

Firefighters said the lack of ventilation in the building, which houses more than 1,200 shops, caused thick smoke to fill the mall and slowed efforts to reach people trapped inside.

Firefighters work next to smouldering remains on Monday following a fire at Gul Plaza Shopping Centre in Karachi. Photo: Reuters
Firefighters work next to smouldering remains on Monday following a fire at Gul Plaza Shopping Centre in Karachi. Photo: Reuters

“It appears to have been caused by a circuit breaker,” Sindh province police chief Javed Alam Odho told reporters at the site on Sunday, adding that the layout of the market and the presence of flammable materials such as carpets and blankets caused parts of the fire to continue smouldering.

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