KARACHI: Fire has broke out in one of the shops located in a shopping mall adjoining Ayesha Manzil in a Karachi central neighborhood, according to police and rescuers.
Citing initial reports, Mayor Karachi Murtaza Wahab has said that three people were killed and one person, identified as 23-year-old Mustafa, is wounded in the incident.
Rescue officials report that nine fire tenders are currently attempting to extinguish the fire. The incident originated in an upholstery foam shop on the mall’s ground floor and quickly spread to engulf the adjoining five-storey residential building, Ayesha Manzil.
Firefighters from the Pakistan Navy have arrived at the site to support the Fire Brigade’s efforts to put out the fire.
Police officials attribute the cause of the fire to a short circuit.
SSP Central says that police are evacuating the residential building, adding that the fire rapidly reached the top floor of Ayesha Manzil.
The mall’s ground floor reportedly houses cosmetics and upholstery foam shops.
Although damages are yet to be estimated, rescuers note that approximately 50 shops have been gutted, and goods worth millions of rupees have been reduced to ashes.
The facade of the residential building Ayesha Manzil, along with several residential flats, has been completely burnt.
Sindh’s caretaker Chief Minister, Justice (r) Maqbool Baqar, has promptly taken notice of the incident and instructed authorities concerned to utilise all available resources to extinguish the fire.
Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab says the preference is to swiftly complete the operation, assuring that the media will be informed about the damages after the rescue operation is completed.
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