ISLAMABAD: A deadly fire at a major shopping plaza in Pakistan’s largest city of Karachi has killed at least 71 people and caused estimated losses of up to Rs15 billion ($53.6 million), traders and officials said on Friday, as recovery teams continue searching unstable debris and families await identification of victims.
The fire broke out on Jan. 17 at Gul Plaza, a densely packed commercial complex in the heart of Karachi that housed more than 1,200 shops. The blaze burned for over 24 hours before being brought under control, trapping workers and shoppers inside and leaving large sections of the building structurally unsafe.
Deadly fires are a recurring problem in Karachi, a city of more than 20 million people, where overcrowded markets, aging infrastructure, illegal construction and weak enforcement of safety regulations frequently contribute to disasters. Officials say a blaze of this scale is rare.
“We have processed 71 sets of remains, of which 20 have been identified,” chief police surgeon Dr. Summaiya Syed said on Friday, underscoring the scale of the disaster and the challenges facing forensic teams.
Identification has been significantly slowed by the condition of the remains recovered from the site, Syed said, noting that many bodies were found in fragments, complicating DNA analysis and prolonging the process for families waiting for confirmation.
