Karachi (National Times) Rescue teams have retrieved one body and controlled a fire that broke out at a residential building in Karachi\u2019s Shah Faisal Colony Number 3 on Wednesday night, officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Sindh Rescue 1122 spokesperson Hassaan Khan, the fire was brought under control due to Rescue 1122\u2019s rapid response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cooling process has also begun, and Rescue 1122 officials have entered the building and are engaged in a search operation, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The deceased who was pulled out from the building was a 55-year-old man, Khan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those who sought refuge on the rooftop to escape the fire have also been rescued. Khan stated that a final search operation will be conducted once the cooling process is complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He noted that a total of five fire brigade vehicles were part of the rescue operation, and Rescue 1122\u2019s Central Command and Control reached the site of the incident as soon as it received information about the fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fire erupted in a shop dealing with oil, Khan added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is difficult to douse the fire with water, the trained Rescue 1122 team is using foam,\u201d Khan had said earlier.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Korangi Tawheed Rehman Memon also reached the site of the incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to him, the fire was a result of a cigarette being thrown near a petrol shop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAction has been taken against illegal petrol connections in the past as well,\u201d the SSP noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He further said that action against this particular petrol pump had been taken two months ago. \u201cThe petrol and oil worker took an order from the court,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to SSP Memon, the deceased was identified as Sirajuddin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that further investigation into the incident was under way.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has taken notice of the incident and issued directives to speed up the rescue operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also directed the Karachi Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner Malir to reach the site of the incident immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEvery effort should be made to move people to a safe space,\u201d the CM said, according to a statement issued by CM House spokesperson Abdul Rasheed Channa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe safety of people\u2019s lives and property should be ensured in all cases,\u201d the CM was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also asked to be updated on each development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe main cause of the fire is said to be an illegal petrol pump,\u201d the statement said. \u201cLegal action should be taken against illegal petrol sellers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA crackdown needs to be initiated wherever there are illegal, open petrol businesses like this,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No one has the right to play with the lives of people, the statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CM Murad asked for a report as soon as the report is brought under control.
A huge fire that broke out in an industrial unit in the SITE area on the morning of August 16 was controlled after hour-long fire-fighting operation, rescuers said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They said that no loss of life was reported. However, a fireman belonging to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) became unconscious during the rescue operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier in July, hundreds of people were evacuated safely and no one was reported injured in a fire that erupted in the Pakistan Stock Exchange building off I.I. Chundrigar Road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In November, 11 people were killed and five others injured when a huge fire, blamed on a short circuit, ripped thro\u00adugh a six-storey commercial building in Karachi\u2019s Gulistan-i-Jauhar area. Doctors said all the victims had suffocated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few days after the incident, the city commissioner formed a high-powered committee to conduct the same audit of all commercial and government buildings across the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also in November, city planners, engineers and experts of building plans at a symposium were sure that some 90 per cent of all structures in Karachi \u2014 residential, commercial and industrial \u2014 did not have fire prevention and firefighting system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They also agreed that it was \u2018a criminal negligence\u2019 on the part of the regulatory bodies like Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) that put lives of millions of people in the metropolis at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The experts referred to the data that more than 15,000 people lost their lives and suffered losses of over a trillion rupees every year due to fire accidents across the country which mainly occurred in urban areas where majority of residential, commercial and industrial structures were raised in violation of defined building rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking at the symposium, Fawad Barry of Haseen Habib, a fire safety equipment and systems solution provider, said: \u201cApart from an estimated 15,000 deaths and over a trillion rupees financial losses across Pakistan, some 150,000 suffer burn wounds due to these fire incidents.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Karachi (National Times) Rescue teams have retrieved one body and controlled a fire that broke out at a residential building in Karachi\u2019s Shah Faisal Colony Number 3 on Wednesday night, officials said. According to Sindh Rescue 1122 spokesperson Hassaan Khan, the fire was brought under control due to Rescue 1122\u2019s rapid response. The cooling process […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n