Hundreds left homeless as fire destroys shanty settlement

Karachi
Around 200 shacks were burnt to the ground as a fire ravaged a shanty settlement near Askari Park in Gulshan-e-Iqbal on Thursday afternoon. Fortunately though, no casualties were reported.
Officials said the blaze broke out at around 12:55 pm when a kerosene stove exploded in one of the crowded huts. With straw and wood in abundance, the fire spread rapidly and had engulfed a major portion of the settlement by the time fire tenders arrived on scene.
There were reports of a delayed response time due to excessive VIP movement in the city owing to the launch of the four-day ‘Expo Pakistan 2015’. However, officials at the Central Fire Station maintained that tenders had been dispatched immediately and it took around 10 of them to extinguish the blaze within three-and-a-half hours.
The damage wreaked, however, was extensive and officials estimated that around 200 shacks were gutted in the fire, leaving at least 300 squatters homeless. Edhi volunteers were at the site with food for the affected and arrangements for bedding and other essentials were also being made.