Pakistan shopping mall fire kills six people

A fire at a shopping centre in the Pakistan city of Karachi has killed six people as firefighters continue to battle the blaze.

Parts of the Gul Plaza, containing 1,200 stores and spanning 8,000 sq m (86,111 sq ft), have collapsed which officers said was hampering rescue efforts.

One firefighter is among the dead, more than 20 people have been injured and there are fears some are still trapped inside the multi-storey mall.

Local emergency services said that when helpers arrived at the site on Saturday “the fire from the ground floor had spread to the upper floors, and almost the entire building was already engulfed in flames”.

Smoke was still billowing from what remains of the Gul Plaza building on Sunday morning.

Hassan Khan, a spokesperson for Rescue 1122 in Karachi, told BBC Urdu the shopping centre contains flammable materials such as plastic foam, cloth, carpets and perfume.

There are 20 fire engines trying to control the blaze but there are concerns the mall could collapse further.

Summaiya Syed, Karachi’s police surgeon, said six bodies had been transferred to the city’s Civil Hospital as well as some of the injured.

She added that the police were “invoking mass disaster protocols”.

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari expressed his condolences and told the government of Sindh province, where Karachi is based, to conduct a comprehensive review of safety arrangements in commercial and residential buildings across the area.