A fire that ripped through a shopping mall in Pakistan’s biggest city has killed at least 21 people, rescuers in Karachi said Monday.Families rushed to the Gul Plaza building after the blaze erupted on Saturday night at one of the coastal city’s busiest malls, where dozens of people were still missing.”In total 21 bodies have been recovered,” Hassan Khan, spokesman for the Rescue 1122 Sindh emergency service, told AFP.”The search operation will continue,” he said.The dead include a 25-year-old rescuer, Khan said, while at least 30 injured people were hospitalised.Standing outside the burnt mall, Shehbaz Ghulam said his nephew’s whereabouts were unknown.”We have made requests to the authorities. We also request the media to help us in any way possible,” the 45-year-old said.”No matter what condition he is in, if he is found and returned to us, we will find some peace,” he told AFP.The top police officer in Karachi’s southern district, Syed Asad Raza, told AFP the force has “a list of 60 missing persons”.Rescue workers said that the blaze had been brought under control.A government committee has launched an investigation, but it was not immediately clear what had caused the fire.Among those waiting outside the mall was Muhammad Qaisar, who last heard from his wife, sister and daughter-in-law at 8:00 pm on Saturday.”The phone kept ringing until 10:00 pm, but no one answered. It continued to ring until midnight, but no one picked up,” Qaisar, 55, told AFP.The three-storey shopping mall housed at least 1,200 shops, offering a wide range of goods and was famous for wedding shopping and home decoration items.Shopkeepers and families criticised authorities for slow rescue efforts.Fires are common in Karachi’s markets and factories, which are known for their poor infrastructure.
A fire that ripped through a shopping mall in Pakistan’s biggest city has killed at least 21 people, rescuers in Karachi said Monday.Families rushed to the Gul Plaza building after the blaze erupted on Saturday night at one of the coastal city’s busiest malls, where dozens of people were still missing.”In total 21 bodies have been recovered,” Hassan Khan, spokesman for the Rescue 1122 Sindh emergency service, told AFP.”The search operation will continue,” he said.The dead include a 25-year-old rescuer, Khan said, while at least 30 injured people were hospitalised.Standing outside the burnt mall, Shehbaz Ghulam said his nephew’s whereabouts were unknown.”We have made requests to the authorities. We also request the media to help us in any way possible,” the 45-year-old said.”No matter what condition he is in, if he is found and returned to us, we will find some peace,” he told AFP.The top police officer in Karachi’s southern district, Syed Asad Raza, told AFP the force has “a list of 60 missing persons”.Rescue workers said that the blaze had been brought under control.A government committee has launched an investigation, but it was not immediately clear what had caused the fire.Among those waiting outside the mall was Muhammad Qaisar, who last heard from his wife, sister and daughter-in-law at 8:00 pm on Saturday.”The phone kept ringing until 10:00 pm, but no one answered. It continued to ring until midnight, but no one picked up,” Qaisar, 55, told AFP.The three-storey shopping mall housed at least 1,200 shops, offering a wide range of goods and was famous for wedding shopping and home decoration items.Shopkeepers and families criticised authorities for slow rescue efforts.Fires are common in Karachi’s markets and factories, which are known for their poor infrastructure.
