Bhangoria Goth fire shows nothing has changed since Baldia factory tragedy

A fire broke out at a three-storey cardboard factory in Azizabad’s Bhangoria Goth on Thursday morning. The firefighters managed to douse the blaze after five hours.

The central control room of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s (KMC) fire brigade said the blaze broke out at 6am, adding that two fire engines were initially dispatched but more trucks were sent in because of the intensity of the fire.

Chief Fire Officer Tehseen Ahmed told The News that the blaze was extinguished at 11am. He said six fire engines, a bowser and a tanker participated in the firefighting operation.

Azizabad police said two machine operators, Umar Naveed and Zeeshan, suffered injuries when they jumped off the third floor of the factory to escape the blaze, adding that they were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

The Bhangoria Goth factory fire harked back to the 2012 Baldia Town factory arson attack, one of Pakistan’s worst industrial disasters in which 259 workers were burnt alive due to closure of emergency gates.

The firefighters faced difficulties in dousing the Bhangoria fire because of a narrow entrance and no emergency fire exit. The firefighters climbed to the third floor and started their operation from the top-down.

After the Baldia fire, the then city commissioner had convened meetings and invited all the stakeholders to draw up a comprehensive strategy for safety measures for every type of factory, resulting in a plan prepared with the consent of all six industrial associations, but it was put into cold storage.

KMC Municipal Services Director Masood Alam said the authorities had not learnt anything from the Baldia blaze, adding that all factory owners were asked to adopt standard operating procedures to avoid action against them, but they paid no heed.

Based on his 30-year experience, Alam said factory owners must get registered with the Sindh Labour Department, adding that the department was supposed to send a team to the unit before issuing it with a certificate. “However, the department is issuing certificates to factories without visiting them.”

He lamented that no inspections were being carried out at the factories. “It’s the responsibility of the civil defence department to train the factory’s management and workers to cope with any emergency situation, but the department is not imparting any training, even though it receives an annual budget.”

Almost all the manufacturing units of the city lack firefighting equipment, he added. “Every industrial unit must have its own firefighting system, but there are only a few factories that have them.”