Around 100 shacks reduced to ashes in fire at Teen Hatti shanty town

A major fire that broke out on Saturday morning near the Teen Hatti slums in the Liaquatabad area of Karachi left hundreds of people homeless as their shacks were reduced to ashes.

No person, however, was fortunately hurt in the blaze.

As the fire department received information about the fire, three fire tenders were immediately dispatched to the shanty town located along the Lyari River under a bridge.

However, as they were not enough to douse the fire, more fire tenders were called at the site.

Before the firefighters could extinguish the flames, the blaze had gutted around 100 makeshift houses.

A total of 10 fire tenders participated in the fire extinguishing operation.

The shanty town witnessed pandemonium during the blaze as its occupants cried for help and tried to save their belongings.

Many residents of the shanty town came to live there after they were displaced during the construction of the Lyari Expressway.

In January 2020, another fire had gutted over 150 huts in the same shanty town. Police said that apparently, the fire accidentally broke out at one of the huts and it later engulfed the other huts. Further investigations are under way.

Oil tanker catches fire

In another incident, panic was observed in the Saddar area after an oil tanker caught fire at a petrol pump near the Parking Plaza on Saturday.

Three fire tenders were initially despatched to extinguish the fire but later more fire tenders had to be sent to participate in the fire extinguishing work.

Police said the tanker had 24,000 litres of petrol while the station’s tank had 30,000 litres and the fire could have exacerbated had the fire fighters not carried out a timely operation and prevented the fire from reaching the fuel tank of the station.

The fire brigade spokesman said that a total 11 fire tenders with one snorkel participated in the operation and controlled the blaze in two hours. Police and the Rangers also cordoned off the area during the fire extinguishing operation.