Death toll in Gul Plaza fire hits 55: Karachi govt

KARACHI: The death toll from a mall fire in Pakistan’s biggest city rose to at least 55 people, a Karachi government official told AFP on Thursday.

“A total of 55 bodies have been recovered since Saturday night” when the fire erupted, said Javed Nabi Khoso, deputy commissioner of Karachi’s south district.

Relatives of those still missing have criticised the slow operation at the three-storey Gul Plaza, where rescuers are scouring the wreckage for human remains.

More than 50 families have given DNA samples, provincial health official Summaiya Syed told journalists Wednesday.

“We will hand over the bodies (remains) to the family, once DNA samples are matched,” she said outside the Civil Hospital Karachi mortuary.

READ MORE: Gul Plaza fire is one of the worst tragedies in the history of Karachi: JI

Fires are common in Karachi’s markets and factories, which are known for their poor infrastructure, but a blaze on such a scale is rare.

Faraz Ali, whose father and 26-year-old brother were inside the mall, told AFP he wants “the bodies to be recovered and handed over to their rightful families”.

“That is all so that the families may receive something, some comfort, some peace. At least let us see them one last time, in whatever condition they are, so that we may say our final goodbye,” the 28-year-old said Wednesday.

A government committee has launched an investigation, but the cause of the inferno was not immediately clear.