Two women died and 11 other people fainted in a fire which broke out in a workshop in a residential building in Defence Housing Authority and quickly intensified and engulfed a first-floor flat on Saturday evening.
Due to the fire, the flats above were filled with smoke, killing a woman and her daughter-in-law. Eleven people, including four women, also fainted in the tragic incident.
The blaze broke out due to a short circuit on Saturday evening in a workshop on the ground floor of a four-storey residential building, which is located on Plot No. C-51 in Phase II of the Defence area on a service road along Korangi Road. It soon intensified, filling several flats with smoke.
Police, Rescue 1122 and DHA fire brigade personnel reached the scene after receiving information about the incident. According to a spokesperson for Rescue 1122, firefighting and rescue teams along with two fire tenders and an ambulance reached the property and started efforts to control the raging flames.
Meanwhile, a contingent of Defence police surrounded the place. The flames coming out of the workshop engulfed a first-floor flat. Rescuers entered the flat with the help of a ladder from the back of the building and rescued trapped people who were suffocating due to smoke and took them to Jinnah Hospital through Edhi and Chhipa ambulances.
The fire brigade personnel controlled the fire after a tough battle lasting an hour and a half and started the cooling process, said Defence SHO Ghulam Nabi Afridi. Rescue volunteers rescued six women and five men and sent them to Jinnah Hospital. The deceased women were identified as Syeda Sabiha Khatoon, 70, wife of Syed Akhlaq Ali, and her daughter-in-law Syeda Shahzain Afzal, 43, wife of Syed Afzal Ali. The daughter-in-law had come from the UK.
According to the list of deceased and patients released by Dr Nosheenzai, in-charge of the Accident and Emergency Department of Jinnah Hospital, two women were brought dead to Jinnah Hospital, while the other people brought for medical treatment were identified as 24-year-old Zoheera, 20-year-old Rafia, 23-year-old Abia, 17-year-old Shahzai, 20-year-old Gariya Duktar Afzal, 24-year-old Moeez, 22-year-old Hamza, 14-year-old Rehan, 50-year-old Afaq and 45-year-old Afzal. Chief Fire Officer Humayun Khan said the fire was reported at around 7pm, after which staff from the Saddar Fire Station were dispatched, while other fire fire engines were also sent to the scene.
Officials said such shops should not be in residential buildings. In the fire incident, a vehicle and other equipment parked in the workshop burnt to ashes.
Meanwhile, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah expressed his deep sorrow and grief over the fire incident and said that he shared the grief of the families of the deceased women.
He issued instructions to the Karachi commissioner to provide immediate medical assistance to the patients and said he had issued instructions to provide all possible facilities to the affected families.
The chief minister also issued instructions for an immediate inquiry into the incident and for tightening fire safety measures in buildings.