Rescue teams worked through the smoldering remains of Karachi's Gul Plaza on Tuesday, searching for 81 people still unaccounted for after a fire that burned for nearly two days and has claimed at least 26 lives. Police officials said most of the missing are feared dead, trapped in a structure that has become emblematic of Pakistan's chronic failure to enforce basic safety standards in commercial buildings.
The scale of casualties reflects more than the fire's intensity—it exposes a predictable pattern of institutional neglect. Witnesses and early investigations point to locked emergency exits, inadequate ventilation systems, and a response infrastructure unable to contain rapidly spreading flames in a multi-story commercial facility. This is not an isolated tragedy but the latest iteration of a failure mode that has defined Karachi's urban governance for decades.
Latest situation update
Firefighters gained access to upper floors of the plaza early Tuesday after flames subsided, but the building's structural instability complicated recovery efforts. Karachi Metropolitan Corporation officials confirmed that rescue operations shifted from active search-and-rescue to body recovery, with specialized teams deployed to navigate collapsed sections and debris fields. Families gathered outside the cordoned perimeter, waiting for information on relatives who worked in the plaza's garment workshops and storage facilities.
Initial accounts from survivors describe a chaotic scene as workers found exit routes blocked and stairwells filled with smoke. The building housed dozens of small manufacturing units, many operating without proper fire safety equipment or emergency protocols. Local authorities have ordered an inquiry into the plaza's operating licenses and inspection records, though similar investigations following past disasters have rarely produced systemic reform or accountability.
Members are reading: How Karachi's regulatory collapse creates a recurring cycle of preventable mass-casualty fires
Conclusion
The Gul Plaza fire exposes the deadly cost of treating safety regulations as optional in Pakistan's largest commercial hub. As rescue operations continue, the disaster underscores a governance failure where enforcement mechanisms exist in name only, leaving workers vulnerable to preventable catastrophes. Without structural reform that prioritizes compliance over profit margins, Karachi's industrial districts will continue producing similar tragedies, each one a foreseeable consequence of institutional decay.
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