KARACHI(National Times)- Part of a factory building in Landhi’s Export Processing Zone (EPZ) collapsed due to a fire on Monday, Rescue 1122 said, as efforts were underway for hours to extinguish the blaze.
“Part of the factory collapsed due to the fire. Rescue 1122 teams are present at the scene and the rescue operation is under way,” the Rescue 1122 spokesperson said in a statement.
Screengrab from a video shows a fire engulfing a factory in Karachi’s Landhi area on Sept 7, 2026. — Courtesy of Rescue 1122
The fire had also spread to an adjacent factory, he added. No casualties or injuries have been reported so far.
“As soon as the Rescue 1122 Central Command and Control received the information, a fire and rescue team was immediately dispatched to the site along with a fire brigade truck and an ambulance,” Rescue 1122 said in an earlier statement.
Screengrab from a video shows a fire engulfing a factory in Karachi’s Landhi area on Sept 7, 2026. — Courtesy of Rescue 1122
Edhi ambulances and volunteers had also reached the site to aid in the rescue operation, the Edhi Foundation said.
Fires frequently erupt in buildings across Pakistan due to a mix of poor infrastructure, weak enforcement of safety regulations, and widespread negligence. Many structures lack proper fire exits, alarms, and emergency protocols, while faulty wiring and overloaded power systems increase the risk of electrical short circuits.
The Gul Plaza inferno, which erupted on the night of January 17 at the mall, claimed at least 73 lives. The blaze took nearly two days to be fully extinguished and left over 1,100 shops in ruins.
In early February, a massive fire in a plastic factory at Landhi EPZ had engulfed several nearby factories and took major firefighting efforts to be brought under control after 13 hours.
Days later, a fire erupted in a high-rise building near Karachi’s Baloch Colony, with around 150 people evacuated. On February 17, a fire at a chemical factory in the SITE Industrial Area was brought under control.
The next month, a blaze that broke out in Imtiaz Superstore’s Zamzama branch was brought under control after hours-long efforts by rescue officials.
In June, hundreds of people were evacuated as a fire erupted in the cold storage of a department store situated in a mega shopping mall on Rashid Minhas Road in Federal B Area.
