Karachi shopping plaza fire death toll rises to 11 with dozens more missing

The death toll from a massive fire at a shopping plaza in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, rose to at least 11 after rescuers recovered five more bodies from the badly damaged building.

Searches are continuing for about 60 people reported missing, officials said.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze at the multi-storey Gul Plaza late on Sunday nearly 24 hours after it erupted, allowing rescue teams to enter the building to rescue those trapped there.

Mayor Murtaza Wahab said four more bodies were recovered overnight, raising the death toll to at least 10.

However, a police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed said so far five bodies had been brought to the Civil Hospital Karachi, while local media reported that at least 14 people died in the blaze.

The fire broke out late on Saturday and spread quickly through shops storing cosmetics, garments and plastic goods, said Dr Abid Jalal Sheikh, the city’s chief rescue officer.

On Sunday night, Sindh chief minister Murad Ali Shah said families had reported about 60 people missing, prompting authorities to launch the search operation.

Chief Fire Officer Humayun Ahmed told local media that the massive fire had badly damaged the structure.

Some of the relatives of the missing waited outside the plaza Monday, hoping for news, local media reported.

One woman was seen crying as she appealed for help in finding her son, who had been inside the shopping plaza when it caught fire on Saturday and had not been heard from since.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known. Police said an investigation was under way.

Karachi, the capital of Sindh province, has a history of deadly fires, often blamed on poor safety standards and illegal construction. In November 2023, a fire at a shopping mall in the city killed 10 people and injured 22 others.

A massive fire at a garments factory in Karachi in 2012 killed 260 people.