Gul Plaza Fire: Survivor makes shocking revelations on live show

KARACHI: A woman who survived the Gul Plaza fire shared a harrowing account of the incident during a live appearance on ARY Digital’s Good Morning Pakistan.

The survivor, whose shop was located in the basement of the Gul Plaza, described how the night of the fire was busier than usual. She explained that it was a weekend evening with two events, Eid and weddings, which had drawn larger crowds than normal.

She said they were slowly gathering their goods when the announcement came that the plaza was closing. At around 10:07 pm, she noticed smoke filling the basement and people running in panic. The smoke was so thick that she could barely see anyone nearby.

By 10:20 pm, when she and others finally managed to exit, the fire had grown uncontrollable, spreading from Gul Plaza’s Gate 3 toward Gate 1. Some onlookers speculated that a short circuit had caused the blaze, but she noted that if that were the case, only a few shops would have been affected, instead, many suffered extensive damage.

The woman revealed that she and her family narrowly escaped with their lives, but were not allowed back inside to salvage their belongings. She said she kept most of her savings in the shop due to frequent robberies in Karachi, and tragically, all her accumulated funds were destroyed in the fire.

Her eyewitness account underscores the devastating human and financial toll of the Gul Plaza tragedy, while also highlighting how quickly the fire consumed the building and the challenges survivors faced during evacuation.

Gul Plaza Fire

A massive fire at Gul Plaza on M.A. Jinnah Road late Saturday night, January 17, has left the city in shock, claiming lives and leaving many unaccounted for. While the blaze has now been brought under control, the building remains structurally unstable.

Rescue teams, supported by the Army, Rangers, and civil authorities, continue searching for missing persons, while engineers assess the damaged structure. Authorities have set up help desks and DNA collection centres to assist in victim identification, and families of the missing are coordinating with officials.

So far the death toll in the Gul Plaza fire has reached 71.

The situation remains fluid, with new developments expected throughout the day.