Gul Plaza Fire: Firemen initiate thorough search operation

KARACHI: The fire officials have initiated a thorough search in fire-wrecked Gul Plaza Shopping Mall on Tuesday.

A massive fire at Gul Plaza on M.A. Jinnah Road thoroughfare of Karachi has left the city reeling, after breaking out on January 17 around 10:00 P.M., was brought under control after 34 hours.

Chief Fire Officer Muhammad Humayun has said that the fire team has initiated search on the front side with torches as presence of smoke at some points in the plaza causing difficulty in search.

Fire Officer said that there is large amount of debris which required a week to be removed.

Humayun clarified that no person found in the mosque in Gul Plaza building after widespread speculations about presence of survivors in the worship place.

“The search operation continuing at the first, second and third floor of the building,” fire officer said.

He said the firefighters at first overcome the blaze in the frontside shops. “The structure has been fragile and the fire team working cautiously within the premises”.

“We have found cash and precious items in the building, which have been handed over to the police,” chief fire officer added.

The fire wrecked building remains structurally fragile and unsafe. Rescue teams, backed by the Army, Rangers and the civil administration, are continuing a cautious search operation for missing persons while engineers assessing stability of the damaged structure, amid growing fears of further collapse.