KARACHI: A catastrophic third-degree fire that ripped through Gul Plaza on MA Jinnah Road late on January 17, 2026, has left at least 26 people dead, dozens injured and more than 60 missing, while destroying over 1,000 shops and causing an estimated Rs100 billion in economic losses.
The multi-storey commercial complex, a key shopping hub for low- and middle-income households, was engulfed by flames that reportedly broke out on the ground floor before rapidly spreading to all levels. Thick plumes of black smoke could be seen across large parts of the city as the fire raged through the overcrowded structure.
Although authorities have cited a suspected electrical short circuit as the cause, health, safety and environment (HSE) experts say the tragedy reflects systemic regulatory and institutional failure rather than an isolated accident.
“In Pakistan, safety is treated as a cost, not an investment,” said Saad Abdul Wahab, CEO of Grow Safe, describing the incident as a “textbook case” of neglect, weak enforcement and cultural apathy toward safety standards.
Originally approved for around 500 shops, Gul Plaza eventually housed nearly 1,400 establishments, creating an enormous fire load of highly combustible materials, including imported garments, plastic goods and carpets. Despite accommodating an estimated 7,500 workers and a daily footfall of up to 100,000 visitors, basic fire safety arrangements were grossly inadequate.
Wahab outlined three interconnected layers of failure. The first was the absence of effective administrative controls, where regulators allegedly prioritised rent-seeking over inspections, allowing hazardous buildings to operate unchecked. The second involved the lack of engineering controls by building owners and trader unions, including the absence of active systems such as sprinklers and alarms, and passive protections like fire doors and compartmentalisation. The third was the breakdown of emergency response, marked by delayed arrivals, insufficient equipment and untrained personnel, allowing a controllable fire to escalate into a full-scale inferno.
At Gul Plaza, the entire complex reportedly relied on just 200 fireballs and 144 fire extinguishers — roughly one extinguisher for every ten shops.
The disaster has once again highlighted the severe shortfall in Karachi’s emergency response capacity. For a city of around 30 million people, international benchmarks call for at least 300 fire stations and 1,200 fire tenders. In contrast, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation currently operates only 28 stations and about 15 to 16 functional fire trucks.
Response times are equally alarming. While global standards require emergency services to reach a fire within six minutes and 24 seconds, Karachi’s fire crews often arrive more than an hour late due to traffic congestion, poor road conditions, blocked access routes and logistical constraints. Even then, water shortages limit their effectiveness. “A fire tender meant to carry 5,000 gallons may arrive with barely 1,500 gallons, which can be exhausted in five minutes,” Wahab said, likening the effort to “fighting a forest fire with a garden hose.”
The tragedy has also underscored weak enforcement of the Sindh Occupational Safety and Health (SOSH) Act 2017, which was meant to bring commercial buildings under mandatory safety audits. According to experts, compliance certificates are often issued without inspections, amid what they describe as systemic corruption.
Critical administrative lapses were evident, including locked exits — 13 of the building’s 16 gates were reportedly closed — and the absence of a trained Emergency Response Team. As a result, the crucial first 15 minutes of evacuation were left entirely to shopkeepers and visitors.
The financial impact has been devastating. Traders estimate losses of Rs2 to Rs2.5 billion per shop, amounting to roughly Rs100 billion overall. Many shopkeepers, Wahab noted, typically hold inventory worth up to Rs300 million but hesitate to invest even Rs30,000 in basic fire safety equipment.
The human cost has been even more severe. Among those killed was young firefighter Furqan Shaukat, whose body was recovered from the charred remains of the building. His death highlighted the lack of essential protective gear, including self-contained breathing apparatuses (SCBA), for frontline responders.
The Sindh government has declared the incident a national tragedy and announced Rs10 million in compensation for the families of victims. However, safety experts warn that without urgent structural, regulatory and institutional reforms — including centralised fire detection systems, integrated power management and modern firefighting infrastructure — similar disasters are inevitable.
Unless the state enforces safety laws and treats fire prevention as a public priority rather than an afterthought, Karachi’s commercial centres will remain vulnerable, and tragedies like Gul Plaza will continue to repeat themselves.
Story by Usman Hanif
