A huge fire that erupted early on Sunday in a multi-storey building was brought under control after four-hour-long struggle in Clifton, fire brigade officials said.
According to reports, an 11-storey building in Clifton area of Karachi caught fire on Sunday and claimed the life of at least one person. The incident occurred at 4:30 am in Block-4 of Clifton.
On getting information, four vehicles of fire brigade reached the scene, however; more fire tenders were called in after observing the intensity of the blaze. Power provision in the area was suspended as a result of the inferno. At least 12 tenders and one snorkel doused the fire after a hectic effort of four hours.
A man was taken out in a dead state from the eighth floor of the commercial building. 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 by an explosion by an AC compressor. 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 required a helicopter which would be bought after the cabinet’s approval.
“This is alarming that the 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 tyres in Gulbani area caught fires repeatedly but the situation was eventually brought under control after a struggle of more than 24 hours by the firefighters.
