By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: Nine days after a devastating fire tore through the crowded Gul Plaza shopping complex in Karachi, killing at least 73 people and reducing more than 1,100 shops to ash, authorities on Monday sealed the charred building and prepared for its demolition, as a special police team ramped up efforts to track down those responsible for one of the city’s deadliest infernos in years.
The blaze, which erupted in the basement on Jan. 17 and raged for nearly two days before being extinguished, has left families in a wrenching limbo, with only 23 victims identified so far amid the challenges of badly burned remains. Officials say the fire was fueled by narrow stairwells, poor ventilation and heavy electrical loads that turned the multi-story mall into a deadly furnace, trapping heat and toxic fumes.
As search operations wrapped up over the weekend, workers from the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation installed green construction mesh around the site on M.A. Jinnah Road, lifting temporary traffic restrictions. Deputy Commissioner South Javed Nabi Khoso said reports of 81 missing persons had come in, with 73 sets of remains recovered. The identification process, hampered by extreme heat damage, continues at medico-legal facilities, where families have provided DNA samples from more than 50 relatives.
Karachi’s chief police surgeon, Dr. Summaiya Syed Tariq, told reporters that 16 bodies were identified through DNA testing, but many remains were so degraded that extracting viable samples proved difficult. “The challenges that we are facing here are because of the heat damage that has been done to the body, to the remains,” she said. “In this instance, it is particularly challenging because the bodies are burnt to the extent that most of the DNA is unsalvageable.”
She added that forensic teams would turn to secondary methods if needed, including anthropological measurements, mobile phone records and personal effects found in the debris. “We hope that they are identifiable but if they aren’t by DNA, we have the anthropological measurements, anthropological data, CDR records and proof of presence to fall back on,” Dr. Syed said.
The human toll has been stark, with families clustering outside the site and forensic centers, desperate for closure. Rehman Khan, uncle of 22-year-old Muhammad Arif, who vanished in the fire, described joining rescue teams to sift through the rubble himself, pulling out nearly 30 sets of remains over four days. None could be recognised. “Now for the past two or three days, we have been coming here in the morning and sitting here until evening,” Khan said. “Now if we even get a body, that would be a very big thing. The chances of life itself have ended.”
In another corner of grief, the family of 18-year-old salesman Ibrar Akram recounted how he helped at least four people escape from the basement before heading back inside — and never returning. “He was showing them the way,” said his cousin Farhan Hafeez, who survived the blaze. “He went back inside and did not come back. Today, it has been seven days since he went missing. What is the government doing?”
Akram’s mother, Afsari Begum, broke down as she spoke. “I don’t want anything. I just want my Ibrar.” Hafeez pleaded dignity in the recovery: “Do not give us a body in pieces. Give us our loved one whole, so that we at least know it is ours.”
A spokesperson for the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, Daniyal Siyal, acknowledged the grim conditions rescuers faced. “Unfortunately, in some cases only body remains were recovered, and those remains were in such a condition that when touched they were turning into powder,” he said. A senior official involved in the recovery blamed part of the identification delays on heavy excavators operated by untrained workers, which sometimes mixed remains in debris bags — some weighing as little as three kilograms but counted as single bodies.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, addressing the mounting criticism, promised accountability and reforms. A fact-finding committee he appointed is probing the fire’s cause, with the chief minister stressing it would “consider all aspects,” including possible arson. “Whoever will be found responsible by the inquiry will be punished,” he said. “If we are responsible, we will accept punishment.”
Murad admitted shortcomings in the response, including inadequate fire brigades. “We have fire brigades but they are not enough,” he said, blaming “legacy issues” and “old laws” that scatter responsibility across departments like the KMC, Rescue 1122, the Sindh Integrated Emergency & Health Services and the Home Department. He announced plans to merge them through new legislation. The government has pledged compensation. Rs10 million to each deceased victim’s family and Rs5 million to each shop owner, plus reimbursements for destroyed inventory within a month, in coordination with the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “Within a month, we’ll reimburse the shopkeepers for their inventory losses,” Murad said.
Police, meanwhile, have filed a report attributing the fire to “negligence and carelessness,” with no suspects named yet. South Deputy Inspector General Syed Asad Raza formed a five-member team — including local police leaders — to pursue arrests and conduct an impartial probe, using all resources and submitting daily progress reports. The team can enlist additional help from the zone.
Officials said initial findings pointed to locked basement doors, exacerbating the spread. Videos and evidence from the site have been shared with superiors. Fires plague Karachi’s markets and factories, often due to shoddy infrastructure, but disasters of this magnitude are uncommon. Globally, such blazes in packed commercial spaces pose forensic nightmares, with heat destroying evidence and delaying identifications — challenges amplified in Pakistan by limited resources. Still, officials insist they have the tools to finish the job. “We have facilities available here in Karachi, and we also have a DNA laboratory in Hyderabad,” Siyal said. “There is no issue regarding resources. All necessary resources are available to us.”
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