Gul Plaza fire: Two children from Hyderabad missing

KARACHI: Two children, Khizar Ali and Hyder Ali, originally from Hyderabad, have been reported missing after a massive fire engulfed Gul Plaza, their family told ARY News.

According to the family, they last had contact with the children at 1:00 AM during the night between Saturday and Sunday. Since then, there has been no update regarding their condition or whereabouts within the building.

During that final phone call, the children informed their family that they had climbed to the roof of the building to escape the flames, reporting that fire had surrounded them from below.

Khizar and Hyder pleaded with their family to send help and rescue them from the building.

So far, the fire has claimed six lives, while 22 others sustained injuries in the massive blaze that broke out on Saturday night.

Earlier, a woman was moved to tears while narrating her son-in-law’s devastating loss of his shop in the horrific Gul Plaza fire.

Sharing the heart breaking details, she said her son-in-law called to deliver the news that their shop had been completely destroyed. Upon hearing the news, her husband immediately rushed to the location.

She expressed that it was a profound shock to realize that his only source of income was ruined in an instant, adding that he is deeply distressed.

“Losing your only asset for meeting daily expenses in the country’s current economic climate is a massive blow,” she lamented.

Another section of the Gul Plaza shopping mall’s façade collapsed on Sunday evening as onlookers watched the building crumble.

The collapse sent a deafening roar through the area, leaving the structure shrouded in a thick blanket of smoke and dust.

The scene was harrowing, as the intense heat from the ongoing fire had charred the building’s structure, leaving it rotten and extremely vulnerable.

Cracks first began to appear late last night. A rear section of the building was the first to give way overnight, followed by two front sections on Sunday morning.

Despite efforts to contain the blaze, the fire remains unextinguished after more than 17 hours.

As per the latest updates, Firefighters have brought 60 to 70 per cent of the blaze at Gul Plaza under control, while search and rescue operations continue amid fears that several people remain trapped under the rubble, South DIG Police said on Sunday.

According to the DIG South, Gul Plaza housed around 1,200 shops and a portion of the building has collapsed. So far, reports of 38 missing persons have been received, and authorities are collecting detailed information to trace them.

He confirmed that six bodies have been recovered and handed over to the families, while 22 injured people are under treatment. A rescue worker, Farqan, is among those who lost their lives in the operation.

On the instructions of the Sindh government, the South Zone police have set up a helpline for families of the affected, while additional police contingents have been deployed around the site. Routes for rescue teams have been cleared to ensure uninterrupted emergency operations.