KARACHI: A fire in the basement of a department store near Jail Chowrangi in Karachi has not been brought under control yet.
According to details, Deputy Commissioner Sharqi Raja Tariq Chandio pointed out that the fire was not extinguished, adding that fire brigade personnel had put out the fire at least four times but it flared up again. A fire is burning inside the cell.
It may be recalled that on Thursday, Karachi Administrator Murtaza Wahab had said that the fire had been completely extinguished and also paid tribute to the brave firefighters.
Mubeen Ahmed, Chief Fire Officer, Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, said that more than a dozen fire tenders took part in putting out the blaze in the department store.
Raja Tariq Chandio said in an interview that no one believed the fire brigade personnel as the fire was constantly raging. The main problem, he said, was that the store owners used the basement, which was built for parking cars, to store food and other items.
Deputy Commissioner Sharqi said he had received reports that shopkeepers had stockpiled large quantities of coking oil in view of rising prices, which were being used as fuel for the fire.
The official added that the fire broke out again on Friday afternoon and reached the second floor reserved for parking, damaging several motorcycles. Raja Tariq Chandio also said that apart from the presence of large quantities of coking oil, the fire brigade personnel were also facing difficulties due to a lack of access to the basement.
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“We have demolished the walls and drilled at least 14 holes in the basement to prevent the fire from spreading. Chemicals have also been used for this purpose,” he said.
He revealed that 0.8 million gallons of water had been poured into the basement. The water in the basement was initially being pumped out onto the roads, causing difficulties for vehicles. Therefore, now an attempt has been made to drain the water accumulated inside the basement into the sewerage lines/drains.
The deputy commissioner said that a case has been registered against the owners of the department store but admitted that no suspect has been arrested so far.
He added that after the fire was brought under control, the Sindh Building Control Authority would be asked to conduct an inspection and assess the damage to the building structure to determine whether it was livable.
