Accident or sabotage: Police investigate cause of Karachi hotel fire

KARACHI: Police continue their investigation into a fire at a private hotel which claimed 12 lives and injured above 110. The cause of the fire remains unclear as the police probe the probability of it being an accident or act of sabotage.

Police claim the hotel’s administration delayed the emergency response, adding that the system to deal with a fire was not up to international standards.  

According to Fire Brigade officials, there was only one proper emergency exit at the hotel. “The light and AC systems were not shut,” a Fire Brigade official added.

Hotel sources said the fire broke out at approximately 3:00AM in the kitchen located in the basement of the hotel and travelled through the air conditioning ducts, engulfing a major part of the hotel in flames.

Firefighters were able to douse the fire after four hours with the help of three fire tenders.

About 100 people were reportedly trapped inside the hotel and were evacuated by rescue workers using a crane.

Mayor Karachi Waseem Akhtar visited the site of the incident and while talking to media, he said rescue work was hampered due to absence of emergency exits and fire alarms. 

Guests staying in the hotel rooms broke the windowpanes and jumped from the multi-storyed building in panic after their rooms were filled with thick black smoke. Some used curtains and bed sheets to make ropes to descend from second, third and fourth stories of the hotel while many were taken to safety by using primitive, wooden ladders by the rescuers.

Following the fire incident, the Karachi police launched an inquiry into the inferno and a team of police officials led by DIG South Azad Khan and SSP Saqib Ismail Memon collected evidence while Sindh Rangers, Pakistan Army, Navy and other agencies’ officials also collected evidence and started parallel investigations into the fire.