The death toll from a massive fire at a shopping mall in Karachi, Pakistan, rose to 23 on Monday as rescuers removed more bodies from the badly damaged building, police said. Dozens are still there.
Firefighters extinguished the fire in the multi-storey building on Sunday, which has been burning for almost 24 hours, allowing rescue teams to enter the building. Authorities fear the death toll will rise as they search for another 46 people, according to city police chief Asad Raza.
Raza told The Associated Press on Monday that only six bodies have been identified so far. Some will require DNA testing as “the bodies were beyond recognition,” said police surgeon Dr. Summiya Sye.
Earlier, the Chief Minister of Sindh province Murad Ali Shah told a press conference in Karachi that rescue teams are searching for survivors and the dead. He said that those who died in the fire included a fireman and that the government would provide 10 million rupees ($36,000) as compensation to the families of each person who died.
Ali Raza/AP
The fire started on Saturday at Gul Plaza, which has 1,200 shops in an area bigger than a football field, Reuters reported. The fire quickly spread to stores that store cosmetics, clothes and plastic goods, said Dr. Abid Jalal Sheikh, chief rescue officer in Karachi.
As rescue teams looked for survivors, hundreds of people were outside the building. Among them was shop owner Yasmeen Bano, who said, “We were left high and dry, reduced to zero; 20 years of hard work, all gone,” according to Reuters.
Some of the relatives of the missing were also outside the burned area on Monday, hoping for news.
Qaiser Ali said his daughter, daughter-in-law and sister went shopping on Saturday and were inside the building when the fire broke out. He said he spoke to all three of them by cell phone on Sunday, but they remained silent.
“I don’t know what happened to them or if they are alive,” Ali told AP. “We pray that all those who are missing get out safely.”
Ali Raza/AP 
Mohammad Abrar said he managed to escape the fire, but his brother, Saifur Rehman, who owns a shop in the plaza, was left behind. He said he feared for his safety.
The cause of the fire was not yet known. Police said the investigation is ongoing.
Karachi, the capital of Sindh province, has a history of deadly fires, often blamed on poor safety standards and illegal construction. In November 2023, a fire broke out in a shopping center in the city, killing 10 people and injuring 22 others.
A huge fire that broke out in a garment factory in Karachi in 2012 killed 260 people.
