KARACHI: As grieving families bury their loved ones and relatives of the missing hold on to faint hope after the Gul Plaza fire, an investigation report has emerged detailing how the tragedy unfolded.
According to sources familiar with the probe, the blaze erupted at an artificial flower shop in the shopping centre while children were playing there.
“It is possible that the children were playing with matches or lighters in the shop,” the sources added.
The blaze, city's largest in over a decade, has left at least 60 dead with over 80 people still unaccounted for.
Burnt bodies and human remains recovered from the debris have left families of missing individuals in deep anguish.
Meanwhile, the authorities are using DNA sampling to identify the remains found from the smouldering structure and the debris of the collapsed portions.
Meanwhile, shedding light on how the fire spread across the complex, which housed over 1,200 shops, the probe report said that the fire broke out in the goods in the flower shop initially and later spread to the electrical wires.
As soon as the fire broke out, the people in the building ran towards the exits which resulted in a stampede due to the closed gates of the building.
The report, highlighting that most of the shops were in fact open at the time of the incident, also points towards the fact that grill was also installed on the roof of the building.
The CCTV system installed in the building has been completely damaged due to the blaze.
Additionally, it noted that statements of eyewitnesses and affected individuals have been recorded as part of the probe.
Meanwhile, as per the timeline of the incident established via CCTV footages, the sources have said that the fire in the shopping centre, which housed over 1,200 shops, broke out at 10:07pm on Saturday (January 17) at the back side of the building. Ambulances began arriving at the scene at around 10:12pm.
The flames became visible on the MA Jinnah Road side — the front side of the plaza — at 10:18pm. It took approximately 11 minutes for the fire to spread from the back of the plaza to its front, sources added, citing the officials.
