Karachi Inferno: 40 Die in Fire in North Karachi

Posted on January 9, 2009
Filed Under >Adil Najam, Disasters
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Adil Najam

As if life was not tough enough for the poor in Pakistan, a massive fire took hold of of of Karachi’s poorest slum localities and at least 40 people, including children, have already been reported dead. The cause of the catastrophe, which took place late night today, is still unknown. But the fire follows another inferno at Ghakkar Plaza in Rawalpindi less than a month ago.

According to The News:

At least forty people including many minor children and women were burnt to death as blazes completely engulfed many shelties in North Karachi sector five, Chiipa sources said. 12 fire tenders reached on the scene and started taming the fire meanwhile, many other people were seriously burnt who were shifted to hospital, sources added. No cause of fire eruption, in huts made of sticks, could be reported. Several people remained caught in the fire for long time.

Eidhi sources added that over two dozens completely burnt dead bodies including 15 children and women, were shifted to different hospitals. Emergency was declared in Abbasi Shaheed hospital, hospital sources informed Geo News. Geo T.V correspondent Faheem Siddiqui reported, “The deadly blazes overwhelmed around 15 to 20 cabins and huts and completely burnt them down, as people were fast asleep therefore, they could not get themselves rescued after inferno outbreak.”

With details still coming in, here is another new report, from Dawn:

At least 39 people were killed and around 25 injured when a fire ripped through dozens of shanty homes in North Karachi, government and hospital officials said early Friday. According to Reuters, 20 children were among those killed in the fire, which broke out at about 1:00 AM, when most residents were asleep.

An AFP photographer at the scene said more than 30 huts had been gutted in the massive blaze. According to officials, the huts destroyed had been home to about 200 people. ‘This is just a catastrophe. I have lost everything. My life is destroyed,’ said weeping survivor Mohammed Khan, whose wife and two children were killed in the fire. Mashhood Zafar, an official at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital in Karachi, said about half of those wounded were in serious condition with severe burns.

Thick black smoke could be seen rising from the scene of the disaster in Karachi, Pakistan’s commercial capital which is home to over 15 million people. Some residents wept as others desperately combed through the ruins looking for survivors. Mohammed Asghar was inconsolable – he lost his sister, brother-in-law and their seven children aged one to 12 in the blaze. ‘My brother-in-law was a street vendor and we had planned to go to our home village in a few days,’ Asghar told AFP. ‘My eldest nephew has asked for a new toy car which I could not afford to buy for him. I’ll regret that forever.’

The shanty town – located in Sector Five of North Karachi – was surrounded on three sides by larger buildings, and the only escape route appeared to have been quickly blocked by the flames, firefighters said. ‘Most of the casualties seem to have been caused by the lack of exit route,’ said fire brigade official Ehtesham Salaam. It took firefighters several hours to bring the blaze under control. Police have launched an investigation to determine the exact cause of the fire.

Differing accounts have been given to explain the fire. AFP suggests it may have been caused by a downed power line. On the other hand Reuters has quoted provincial Health Minister Sageer Ahmed as saying it may have been started by a fire lit by residents to keep warm on a chilly night.

Once known for its suburban green spaces and tree-lined streets, Karachi is now a concrete jungle of haphazard settlements. More than half of the population live in slums. The blaze appeared to be one of the biggest in recent years in Pakistan.

16 responses to “Karachi Inferno: 40 Die in Fire in North Karachi”

  1. Tina says:

    The truth in this situation is brutal.

    ‘Failure of infrastructure’–what infrastructure or government is supposed to keep pace with a 3% per annum rate of growth, an average of six children per female. No govt. or public services can do it–whatever is done is overwhelmed in a very short time. Also, pointing the finger of blame at the govt,, always, is an excuse. You have to look at the bigger picture.

    Overpopulation really is the heart of the problem.

    Human life is precious–or rather would be if there were a lot less of it.

    As things stand now, human life is very cheap. Billions live on pennies a day. They crowd into the cities hoping to cling to life, but for them there are no jobs, no resources, no future.

    Something must be done.

  2. …is that the death count is high by International standards but low by Karachi’s sad standards. In the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks violence in Karachi quickly consumed 70+ lives in two days. The politicians of the two main parties possibly responsible then did news conferences about how they loved each other. Of course they did.

    Growing up in Karachi as a fervent and misguided ethnic politician I became very sad at how narrow minded some highly educated people can be. But then what can you say about a metropolis which is under Atmy occupation from 1992-9 just because the Army cannot be bothered to fight India. I learnt two things as a Karachiite:

    1. Every news item has an ethnic angle. So depending on what ethnic group you belong to you make a conclusion about who died in the fire and therefore about who might have started the fire ( a dangerous and unfair conclusion to make !) and

    2. In a city where at times there can be utter chaos and Somalia-type state of civil war, everything is controlled by mafias ( as may be true for the rest of Pakistan). Therefore the Karachiite’s survival ( and self-consolation) guide is as follows:

    a. Who supplies the Water? The Tanker Mafia

    b. Who supplies Electricity? KESC Kunda mafia

    c. Who was living in the jhonpris and jhuggis? The Land Mafia ( aka Qabza Group) .

    It is unforgivable and wrong of me to say that and I grieve for those innocent people killed and injured . By all means they were only poor working-class people living in a slum which was surrounded by building blocks. But this is not my opinion. But I am only stating how surrounded people think.

    d. Who set the fire ? The Builder Mafia (to evacuate the plot for their own agenda)

    Once again, the fire may just have been an accident, and I have no evidence to support except the guess that it takes more than an accident to consume 40 lives (by blocking the only exit point). Once again, these are not my opinions but an explanation of the psyche behind the reasons for the arson. It is an expose of the brutal style of thinking people adopt.

    Besides has Pakistan ever been able to solve the murders of anyone from Liaquat Ali Khan to Hakim Saeed that we should expect a reliable investigation into this incident?

    I remember around Dec ’89 before the Mohtarma was fired for the first time ( and her corrupt ministers were desperately clinging on to their ministries) that her Railways Minister refused to resign or even show any remorse after 400 people had died in a train accident in Sangi. And that is only a small measure of the callousness of feudal politics.

    I gave up ethnic politics (not all politics!) a while ago and became a Pakistani and a Muslim. I wish we could all do that.

  3. Naghmana Khan says:

    Tina:
    I believe that birth control and over population is not the issue here…but the lack of proper infrastructure and organization in rescue efforts in case of such tragic events. I really hope that the government starts looking into such problems and takes proper measures to ensure the safety of all its citizens. Money or lack of it is not how the worth of a human life should be measured.
    Allah un ki maghfirat kare. Ameen.

  4. Eidee Man says:

    This is extremely distressing news; terrorist actions are one thing, but events like these are very much preventable.

    @ Tina,
    “a young woman on the BBC said she carried two children and her husband carried two children and the older ones they had to leave behind (eldest 8) were burned

  5. Tina says:

    Well, let’s see…the man quoted here had seven children in twelve years;

    a young woman on the BBC said she carried two children and her husband carried two children and the older ones they had to leave behind (eldest 8) were burned…this is what, minimum five kids in probably eight years?

    Can it really be true that nobody can see the connection between this monstrous rate of breeding and the slum cities, poverty, overcrowding, and inevitable resulting tragedies?

    You have a kid every two years in a slum (or even oftener if Nature allows it)—well, you buddy, are part of the problem. Until you stop it, the country you live in has nowhere to go but down. Instead of condemning one or two children to a shabby existence, you are condemning ten to starvation.

    This is not an opinion. It is a quantifiable, verifiable fact. Do the math.

    The mullahs need to get busy and find a way to preach that birth control is every family’s most important Islamic duty. Which it is, since Islam, along with every other religion, can’t very well survive if the human race dies out.

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