Firefighters bring under control fourth blaze incident in Karachi

KARACHI: A huge fire that erupted early on Sunday in a multi-storey building was brought under control after a three-hour long struggle in Clifton, fire brigade officials said.

A man was taken out in a dead state from the eighth floor of the commercial building in Clifton Block 4. According to the fire brigade officials, the victim was a security guard and died due to suffocation.

The officials also said that 12 people stuck in the building were evacuated with the help of a snorkel.

Eight people stuck on the rooftop were also taken out of the building in the rescue operation.

The incident underscored lack of resources the Fire Brigade Department has been facing as the snorkel had no access beyond sixth floor and three people stranded at the eighth floor had to reach the snorkel using ropes.

According to Chief Fire officer Tehseen Ahmed, the fire was extinguished with the help of five fire tenders and one snorkel.

It was reported that the fire was caused to an explosion by an AC compressor and intensified over time.

Sindh Minister for Local Government Jam Khan Shoro also reached the site to overview the rescue activities. While speaking to media he said that the fire department requires a helicopter, adding that after the Cabinet’s approval a helicopter will be bought.

“This is alarming that Karachi Fire department has only one snorkel, which also can’t go beyond six floors while the city has several multi-storey buildings,” he said.

The metropolitan has witnessed a series of blazes within just a few days. On Friday, three fire incidents occurred at different places within a single day in Karachi. Firefighters had successfully brought under control two fires at a medicine manufacturing factory in Hawkesbay and a garment factory in the SITE area. However, a warehouse storing tires in Gulbani area involved recurrent fires but the situation was eventually brought under control after a struggle of more than 24 hours by the firefighters.