Gul Plaza | Pakistan

KARACHI: Three people were arrested after a huge fire erupted in the gutted structure of Karachi’s Gul Plaza shopping centre on Sunday, which was brought under control by over half a dozen fire tenders after several hours, according to police and rescue services officials. The development comes after a huge fire erupted at the shopping centre in January this year, claiming the lives of over 70 people and destroying hundreds of shops. Rescue 1122 spokesperson Hassaanul Haseeb Khan told Dawn that the service received information about a fire in the basement at around 5:00pm. “Six fire tenders managed to control the blaze after hectic efforts up to 70 per cent, but thick smoke and heat is still emanating from the building,” he stated. Khan added that a “special response team” — set up after the previous Gul Plaza fire and equipped with the latest equipment — was deployed to the scene. He said initially, they were informed that the fire had erupted “spontaneously” in bushes inside Gul Plaza’s basement. “Since the...

KARACHI: Inhalational asphyxia/suffocation was the predominant cause of death in the tragic Gul Plaza fire that claimed at least 73 lives, according to Police Surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed. The deadly inferno, which erupted on the night of January 17 at the mall, took nearly two days to be fully extinguished and left over 1,100 shops in ruins. Despite 10 days of hectic search efforts amid the rubble, at least eight people remained missing. Dr Syed submitted a reply to a questionnaire from the judicial commission probing the blaze, it emerged on Tuesday. Asked what the dominant cause of loss of life was, in her professional opinion, the police surgeon stated: “The predominant cause of loss of life was inhalational asphyxia/suffocation.” However, she added, polytrauma could not be ruled out in 66 others “due to fragmented remains”. Polytrauma is a medical condition involving multiple severe injuries. Detailing the findings, Dr Syed said, “Inhalational asphyxia was established as the primary medical cause of death in...

The president of the Gul Plaza Association, Tanveer Pasta, has submitted his response to the judicial commission investigating the Gul Plaza fire tragedy, attributing the high number of casualties to delays and inadequate arrangements in the rescue operation.

• Says lack of fire safety measures, disconnection of electricity and blocking of exits caused fatalities • Forensic investigation can determine exact origin of fire, commission told KARACHI: Chief Fire Officer Muhammad Humayun Khan has blamed the Gul Plaza administration for the loss of life due to lack of implementation of fire safety protocols, failure to make a prompt announcement about the fire, blocked emergency exits and disconnection of electricity without evacuating people trapped inside. He said this in response to a questionnaire from the single-judge commission, headed by Justice Agha Faisal of the Sindh High Court. In his reply / statement, Mr Khan submitted that information about Jan 17 Gul Plaza fire was received at the central fire station at 10:26pm, first fire tender was dispatched at 10:27pm and it was arrived at the site in around 10 minutes. He maintained that the one-minute response time was consistent with internationally recognised performance benchmarks while travel time was influence...

The Sindh government on Tuesday formally notified a single-member judicial commission to investigate the causes of the devastating fire at Gul Plaza.

KARACHI: The Sindh government on Wednesday formed a single-member judicial commission to probe the cause of the Gul Plaza blaze that claimed at least 73 lives. The notification appointing Justice Agha Faisal and listing the commission’s terms of reference came hours after Sindh High Court (SHC) Chief Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput nominated the judge for the task. It should be mentioned that the Sindh government had announced it would approach the SHC chief justice for a judicial inquiry into the fire, which took nearly two days to be fully extinguished and left over 1,100 shops in ruins. Earlier in the day, a letter from the SHC registrar to the Sindh Home Department’s secretary, available with Dawn, stated that the chief justice had nominated Justice Faisal as the single-member commission to “probe the causes of the fire incident of Gul Plaza shopping centre, Karachi for a period to be fixed and notified by the government of Sindh”. It stated that the decision was made keeping in view the provisions of Section ...

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday turned down Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori’s request to constitute a judicial commission to probe the Gul Plaza inferno, citing non-compliance with the relevant law and case law “in letter and spirit”. In his letter to SHC Chief Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput dated January 27, the Muttahida Qaumi Move­ment-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader requested the SHC CJ to constitute a judicial inquiry commission to “investigate the Gul Plaza fire incident and to dig out the root cause, negligence facts or violations of law that may have led to this unfortunate occurrence”. A letter was issued by the high court in response to the governor’s request to constitute a judicial inquiry regarding the incident, a copy of which is available with Dawn. The response, dated January 28, stated that the chief justice was “pleased to record minutes that the procedure for a formal, independent inquiry into matters of public concern, typically led by a judge or legal expert, is to be appointed by the government s...

Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon on Thursday announced that a judicial inquiry will be conducted into the Gul Plaza fire. “To further probe this and to promote departmental transparency, the sub-committee decided … a letter is being penned to the honourable Sindh High Court (SHC) chief justice,” Memon told a press conference in Karachi. He added that the SHC top judge will be requested to appoint a serving judge to “review everything and decide on it”. A cabinet sub-committee — chaired by Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and including ministers Memon, Nasir Hussain Shah, Saeed Ghani, and Ziaul Hassan Lanjar — reviewed a report submitted by a two-member team. “The meeting with the chief minister went on for four to five hours and important decisions were made in light of the commissioner and additional IG’s report,” Memon noted. The senior minister then listed the decisions taken by the sub-committee. He observed that the Civil Defence department conducted fire safety audits of Gul Plaza and other buildi...

KARACHI: Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori, in a letter to the Chief Justice of Sindh High Court Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput, has sought the constitution of a judicial inquiry commission in relation to the devastating Gul Plaza blaze in Karachi, it emerged on Thursday. The development comes amid growing calls from the opposition parties to form an inquiry commission in response to preliminary findings on the incident, which suggested that the fire was caused accidentally by a minor son of the owner of a flower shop. Jamaat-i-Islami also questioned the probe’s credibility and asked for an independent judicial commission. The deadly inferno, which erupted on the night of January 17 at the mall and took nearly two days to be fully extinguished, has claimed at least 73 lives and left over 1,100 shops in ruins. In his letter — dated January 27 and available with Dawn — the Muttahida Qaumi Move­ment-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader requested the SHC CJ to constitute a judicial inquiry commission to “investigate the Gul Plaza fir...

The Sindh Cabinet on Tuesday approved the relief and rehabilitation package — announced last week — for the families of the victims of the Gul Plaza inferno in Karachi, which includes Rs10 million as financial compensation. Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had earlier announced the compensation on January 19. The deadly inferno, which erupted on the night of January 17 at the mall and took nearly two days to be fully extinguished, has claimed at least 73 lives and left over 1,100 shops in ruins. After nine days of scouring through the rubble to locate remains of the dead and missing, the search operation concluded on Sunday. According to a press release issued by the Chief Minister’s House today, during the meeting, the cabinet expressed grief over the loss of lives in the Gul Plaza tragedy and approved Rs10m for the families of the deceased, along with the Rs10m “interest-free loans” for shopkeepers affected by the devastating blaze. The chief minister held that “there can be no compromise on human life. ...

KARACHI: The Karachi police on Monday constituted a special team to make “all-out efforts” to arrest suspects in the Gul Plaza fire and to conduct an impartial probe into the incident. An order issued by the office of South Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Syed Asad Raza stated that the five-member team was constituted for the “arrest of involved accused person(s) and impartial investigation” into the case. “The investigation team shall make all-out and diligent efforts to arrest the accused person(s) by utilising all available resources,” read the notification, a copy of which is available with Dawn. In a first information report (FIR) of the incident, dated January 23, the Karachi police said the fire was an “outcome of negligence and carelessness”. The case was registered against unknown persons as the police have not nominated anyone in the case. The special team will comprise the Garden Sub-divisional police officer (SDPO), the Kharadar investigation deputy superintendent of police (DSP), the head of the G...

E-commerce giant Daraz on Monday announced an initiative to help sellers affected by the Gul Plaza inferno, saying it would launch a dedicated section on its website to sell their products and goods. The deadly inferno, which erupted on the night of January 17 at the mall and took nearly two days to be fully extinguished, claimed at least 73 lives and left over 1,100 shops in ruins. Efforts to scour through the debris for the remains of the dead are still underway. In a press release, Daraz said it was mobilising platform and ecosystem support for the affected traders by providing “onboarding, storage solutions, marketing enablement, and dedicated incubation over the next three months”. “Daraz Pakistan, under its Daraz Cares arm, has announced a dedicated support initiative for sellers impacted by the recent fire at Gul Plaza in Karachi, aimed at helping affected businesses regain stability and continue serving customers across Pakistan,” the press release said. “Through this initiative, Daraz Pakistan will l...

HAYDERABAD: Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Haider Abbas Rizvi has reiterated the party’s demand for the formation of an inquiry commission by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, including members from Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and others, to probe the Gul Plaza inferno. Addressing a press conference on Sunday in Hyderabad, Rizvi said that MQM chairman Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui had also written a letter to the prime minister to seek the formation of an inquiry commission under the Pakistan Commission of Inquiry Act 2017. “This commission must comprise representatives from FIA, IB, ISI, MI, NDMA and other federal bodies to find whether it is an act of subversion or an incident of fire”. He lambasted the Sindh government and Karachi administration for throwing debris of the fire, which also included remains of the deceased, at the Meva Shah ground, saying it would “compromise forensic investigation of the tragedy”. “It looks like evidence is being stolen,...

KARACHI: The number of lives lost in the tragic Gul Plaza fire rose yet again on Sunday as two more bodies were recovered from the rubble, taking the death toll to 73. Police Surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed confirmed to Dawn that the death toll has increased to 73. She added that so far, 23 deceased individuals have been identified, including 16 through DNA matching, six through facial identification and one because of their CNIC. Dr Syed stated that all DNA tests were being conducted at the Sindh Forensic DNA and Serology Lab at the University of Karachi. She shared a list of those identified so far: Kashif, son of Younus Aamir, son of Sulaiman Faraz, son of Anas Farooq, son of Anwar Furqan, son of Shoukat Mohammad Ali, son of Haji Habib Tanveer, son of Abdul Kaleem Mohammad Sharoz, son of Muhammad Iqbal Mohammad Athar, son of Shoukat Ali Sarfaraz, son of Noor Muhammad Mohammad Hanif, son of Abdul Ghani Misbah, daughter of Irfan Kausar Parveen, wife of Irfan Mohammad Saad, son of Muhammad Irfan Mohammad Ramzan, son...

The rescue operation at Gul Plaza continued for the ninth consecutive as search teams recovered more human remains from the debris of the collapsed building.

Police on Saturday registered a first information report (FIR) over the devastating Gul Plaza inferno, citing the incident as an “outcome of negligence and carelessness”. The deadly inferno, which erupted on the night of January 17 at the mall and took nearly two days to be fully extinguished, has left the ground-plus-three-storey building in ruins, with some sections collapsed. It has so far claimed 71 lives. South Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Syed Asad Raza confirmed that the FIR had been registered on behalf of the state, through a police official, under relevant laws. According to the FIR, Nabi Bux Station House Officer (SHO) Inspector Nawaz Ali Zardari said the police received information about the fire in the plaza at around 10:30pm on January 17. The FIR added that the fire was “rapidly spreading and engulfed the entire plaza” while firefighters and other rescue personnel were engaged in efforts to extinguish the blaze. It further stated that the fire erupted in shop number 193, a flower and gift sho...

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) on Saturday urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to constitute a high-level inquiry commission to hold those accountable whose negligence led to the Gul Plaza inferno. The deadly inferno, which erupted on the night of January 17 at the mall and took nearly two days to be fully extinguished, has claimed at least 71 lives and left over 1,100 shops in ruins. Addressing a press conference in Karachi, MQM-P leader Farooq Sattar said the citizens of Karachi had “questions of a very serious nature regarding the responsibilities of the Sindh government in this incident”, as well as those of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and the mayor. He called for an “independent judicial inquiry” into the Gul Plaza tragedy to ensure the truth comes to light. Sattar questioned what the “fear and obstruction” was in setting up a judicial commission. “Incapability, mistake, apathy, shamelessness, impudence — these should be exposed,” Sattar demanded. Sattar further demanded tha...

Heart-wrenching details have emerged from an eyewitness who narrowly escaped the deadly Gul Plaza fire, as rescue teams continue operations at the site.

KARACHI: The death toll of Karachi’s Gul Plaza blaze crossed 70 on Friday as rescuers found more remains from the rubble of the gutted shopping centre. Police Surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed issued an updated list of 71 deceased. Of the 16 identified so far, nine were identified through DNA tests, which have been performed for 49 samples. The deadly inferno, which erupted on the night of January 17 at the mall and took nearly two days to be fully extinguished, has left the ground-plus-three-storey building in ruins, with some sections collapsed. As more bodies were recovered from different parts of the building, officials cautioned that the final toll can only be determined once the identification of the remains is completed. Meanwhile, officials expressed the hope to complete their search efforts on Friday. South Deputy Commissioner (DC) Javed Nabi Khoso told reporters that the search operation was in the “final stages”. “The search in the wreckage will be completed today,” he said. Stating that a total of 77 missi...

Governor Sindh Kamran Tessori has demanded a judicial inquiry into the deadly Gul Plaza fire in Karachi that has claimed at least 63 lives so far.