KARACHI: A devastating fire broke out at the Glass Tower, a shopping center located near Teen Talwar in the Clifton area of Karachi, early Tuesday morning.
The fire started on the first floor of the tower, and in no time it spread to other shops, reducing to ashes over 30 shops and impacting around 80 others.
The fire brigade arrived immediately at the incident site and deployed twelve fire-fighting vehicles. Although the intensity and rapidity of the fire were checked in spreading to other floors by the brigade, extensive damage was done due to the exceptionally rapid spread of the blaze fueled by the commodity of the stores being predominantly cloth-based.
The store owners and shopkeepers decided to intervene by taking out their merchandise from the store, lest it be consumed by the flames as the building was on fire.
Luckily, no loss of life was reported, but illnesses did occur to one fireman and one shopkeeper due to heavy smoke inhalation, and both were sent to the hospital.
The building was completely evacuated, and K-Electric cut off the power supply to further minimize any damage. The fire brigade managed to put out the fire after two long hours while the cause of the fire at the moment is unknown, according to Chief Fire Officer Humayun Khan.
The shop owners, who suffered an immense loss, are demanding the government to compensate them. They claim that 35 shops have been consumed and around 80 others damaged, leading to a big loss.
The first floor of the tower with 165 shops, again mostly with clothes and bed sheets, was reportedly the most affected. The traders want government support to recover from the havoc this incident has caused.
