The factory which was gutted in a massive blaze claiming 289 lives was cleared on Thursday morning.
Chief fire officer Ehtishamud Din said the operation continued all the night long and after drainage machines pumped water out of the basement, the building was now cleared after 41 hours.
Talking to a private TV channel, he said the upper three storey had already been cleared, however, the basement that was filled with water became extremely hot as a result of continued 18-hour inferno. The fire officer Ehtisham asserted there is no more dead body left at the factory now. Earlier at night, the second storey of the gutted garment factory caught fire again, however, the fire-tenders brought it under control.
On Thursday morning, the affected families staged protest demonstration as the heavy machinery could not be transported to the blaze site, which delayed the relief work at the basement of the factory. The affected people warned they will themselves drain out the accumulated water after breaking the wall of the factory, if the administration continues to display disregard over the tragedy of so immense proportions. As many as 217 bodies were kept at Edhi Center; of them, 107 have been delivered to the bereaved families after identification process.
Eight bodies will be dispatched to different areas of Punjab including Muzaffargarh and Rahim Yar Khan.
Edhi Center Sohrab Goth’s official said the bodies being shifted to Punjab cities will be given free-of-cost service.
Qaim orders probe into fire incident : Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has ordered a thorough investigation into Karachi garments factory inferno killing around three hundred workers including female workers and for submission of the detailed report with in next three days.
Syed Qaim Ali Shah, on behalf of Sindh Government, announced to give Rs 0.3 million each for the deceased and Rs 50,000 each for the injured along with proper treatment on the government expenses.
It is very necessary to fix the responsibility for this worst tragedy and learnt about the causes. The factory owners must come on the surface and play active part in the investigation otherwise they would be held totally responsible and taken to task, the chief minister said while talking to media during his visit to Karachi garments factory in SITE area here on Thursday. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) member of National Assembly and President PPP Karachi Division Abdul Qadir Patel, Sindh Ministers Rafiq Engineer, Nadeem Bhutto and Haji Muzaffar Shujra, and Special Assistants to the CM Rashid Hussain Rabbani, Waqar Mehdi and Siddique Abu Bhai, and Commissioner Karachi Roshan Ali Shaikh, Administrator Karachi Metropolitan Corporation Muhammad Hussain Syed were also present.
The chief minister said that he was on three-day visit to interior Sindh where the rains have caused big loss.
On receipt of the information about this fire incident, he ordered immediate rescue and relief operations. He said that he had ordered the Investigation Officer to submit a detailed report about the factory inferno within next three days to ascertain the responsibility and causes of this incident. He said that Sindh Government has announced three day mourning on this gory incident. Meanwhile, he said that the Chief Justice of Sindh High Court has taken notice of this serious incident.
