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KARACHI:
A huge fire at a garment factory in Baldia Town area of Karachi has killed at least 236 people, the police chief said on Wednesday. The rescue operation continues.
Karachi police chief Iqbal Mahmood also said rescue teams were still trying to gain access to parts of the factory, which caught fire late on Tuesday, and the death toll could rise.
Rescue workers have pulled as many as 200 charred remains from the garment factory which was gutted by a huge blaze on Tuesday.
Fire department officials said that they had managed to control fire in most parts of the factory and were now trying to recover bodies of the dead from the building.
Express News correspondent Nadeem Khan said that Metropolitan Commissioner Matanat Ali Khan has said that there were at least 30-35 bodies still inside the stricture.
Khan added that the factory structure, having been exposed to a sweltering blaze for over eight hours, was now in a precarious condition with cracks appearing in its walls. He added that the building had sagged from one side and rescue officials too had warned that the building could collapse at any moment.
Meanwhile, Governor Sindh Ishratul Ebad has announced a day of mourning in the city on Wednesday.
Updated from print edition below
Karachi garment factory fire kills 20
While some parts of Karachi were dealing with flooding from heavy rain, at least 20 people were killed and about two dozen others were wounded when a huge blaze gutted a garment factory on the citys outskirts on Tuesday evening. Some two dozen people were still trapped inside the building at last report.
So potent was the blaze that firefighters admitted they were unable to complete the rescue operation due to the intensity of the fire and shortage of water despite help from the Pakistan Navys firefighting team. There is so much heat that we cannot even enter the building and just hosing down from the outside, said Chief Fire Officer Ehtishamuddin Siddiqui. The fire needs to be extinguished from above and we have called the Pakistan Air Force for help.
He said that there were about 1,500 workers present in the three-storey, 2,000-sq-yard factory located on Hub River Road when the fire broke at around 6 pm. Authorities claimed that around 100 trapped workers were rescued by the firefighters and locals; however, there are fears that the death toll could increase. There were reports that one child was also among the dead.
Earlier, according to sources at the Civil Hospital, the bodies of twelve men and three women were brought to the hospital. They added that more than two dozen injured victims were also brought in.
At least 22 fire vehicles were at the site. District West SSP Amir Farooqui said that an exact death toll could not be ascertained until the fire was extinguished. He further said that the cause of the fire is still unknown, adding that an inquiry would be conducted in this regard.
The commissioner of Karachi has ordered police to lodge an FIR against the factory owner.
Terming it a third degree fire, fire brigade officials said the blaze had completely engulfed and damaged the infrastructure of the building.
They further said that the rescue mission was really difficult as there is only one exit in the building.
CFO Ehtishamuddin also said that the fire fighters were facing several problems Right now, we are trying to get inside the factory, where we fear we will find more bodies, he said. In an attempt to save their lives, many trapped workers broke doors and windows, and jumped off the building, before the fire fighters arrived at the site.
Extra contingents of Rangers and police also reached the site to avoid any untoward incident as scores of people, including workers of nearby factories and victims relatives, gathered outside. According to reports, the crowd also tried to participate in the rescue operation, which sparked off a scuffle with law enforcers.
While protesting against the fire brigade and other officials present at the site, the crowd said that there would have been no loss of life or property if the fire brigade reached on time.
PAF response
Pakistan Air Force spokesman Nadeem Khan, when contacted, said that nobody has approached PAF regarding an air operation, adding that they would participate in the operation if they are called. We have no such aircraft that can specifically be used to extinguish the fire from the air, said the spokesman. We can utilise a C-130 aircraft if required.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 12th, 2012.
A huge fire at a garment factory in Baldia Town area of Karachi has killed at least 236 people, the police chief said on Wednesday. The rescue operation continues.
Karachi police chief Iqbal Mahmood also said rescue teams were still trying to gain access to parts of the factory, which caught fire late on Tuesday, and the death toll could rise.
Rescue workers have pulled as many as 200 charred remains from the garment factory which was gutted by a huge blaze on Tuesday.
Fire department officials said that they had managed to control fire in most parts of the factory and were now trying to recover bodies of the dead from the building.
Express News correspondent Nadeem Khan said that Metropolitan Commissioner Matanat Ali Khan has said that there were at least 30-35 bodies still inside the stricture.
Khan added that the factory structure, having been exposed to a sweltering blaze for over eight hours, was now in a precarious condition with cracks appearing in its walls. He added that the building had sagged from one side and rescue officials too had warned that the building could collapse at any moment.
Meanwhile, Governor Sindh Ishratul Ebad has announced a day of mourning in the city on Wednesday.
Updated from print edition below
Karachi garment factory fire kills 20
While some parts of Karachi were dealing with flooding from heavy rain, at least 20 people were killed and about two dozen others were wounded when a huge blaze gutted a garment factory on the citys outskirts on Tuesday evening. Some two dozen people were still trapped inside the building at last report.
So potent was the blaze that firefighters admitted they were unable to complete the rescue operation due to the intensity of the fire and shortage of water despite help from the Pakistan Navys firefighting team. There is so much heat that we cannot even enter the building and just hosing down from the outside, said Chief Fire Officer Ehtishamuddin Siddiqui. The fire needs to be extinguished from above and we have called the Pakistan Air Force for help.
He said that there were about 1,500 workers present in the three-storey, 2,000-sq-yard factory located on Hub River Road when the fire broke at around 6 pm. Authorities claimed that around 100 trapped workers were rescued by the firefighters and locals; however, there are fears that the death toll could increase. There were reports that one child was also among the dead.
Earlier, according to sources at the Civil Hospital, the bodies of twelve men and three women were brought to the hospital. They added that more than two dozen injured victims were also brought in.
At least 22 fire vehicles were at the site. District West SSP Amir Farooqui said that an exact death toll could not be ascertained until the fire was extinguished. He further said that the cause of the fire is still unknown, adding that an inquiry would be conducted in this regard.
The commissioner of Karachi has ordered police to lodge an FIR against the factory owner.
Terming it a third degree fire, fire brigade officials said the blaze had completely engulfed and damaged the infrastructure of the building.
They further said that the rescue mission was really difficult as there is only one exit in the building.
CFO Ehtishamuddin also said that the fire fighters were facing several problems Right now, we are trying to get inside the factory, where we fear we will find more bodies, he said. In an attempt to save their lives, many trapped workers broke doors and windows, and jumped off the building, before the fire fighters arrived at the site.
Extra contingents of Rangers and police also reached the site to avoid any untoward incident as scores of people, including workers of nearby factories and victims relatives, gathered outside. According to reports, the crowd also tried to participate in the rescue operation, which sparked off a scuffle with law enforcers.
While protesting against the fire brigade and other officials present at the site, the crowd said that there would have been no loss of life or property if the fire brigade reached on time.
PAF response
Pakistan Air Force spokesman Nadeem Khan, when contacted, said that nobody has approached PAF regarding an air operation, adding that they would participate in the operation if they are called. We have no such aircraft that can specifically be used to extinguish the fire from the air, said the spokesman. We can utilise a C-130 aircraft if required.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 12th, 2012.
