214 killed in garment factory fire in Karachi

Members of City Fire Services use an aerial lift to move a dead body recovered from a building, after a fire at a garment factory in Karachi September 12, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

ISLAMABAD - The death toll of a fire that broke out in a garments factory in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi on Tuesday evening has reached 214, said hospital sources Wednesday afternoon.

Hospital sources told local media that 80 bodies were at Civil Hospital, 70 at Abbasi Hospital and 64 at Jinnah Hospital. Many of the bodies were burnt beyond recognition, they said, adding that 26 out of the 60 bodies identified have been handed over to their family members.

Hospital sources added that there were so many bodies sent to hospitals and there is no enough space for them at the mortuaries.

Earlier, Karachi Commissioner Roshan Ali Sheikh confirmed 166 deaths in the fire. This is the first official figure announced by the Karachi government about the casualties of the fire since it broke out at about 6:00 pm local time Tuesday in a four-storeyed concrete factory building in the western part of the city.

Roshan Ali Sheikh said that the mass casualties of the fire happened due to the closure of the emergency exits by the factory' s owner.

Hospital sources said that many of the victims died because of suffocation.

Karachi's chief fire officer announced at about 11:30 am local time that the fire had been put out. The announcement came nearly 11 and half hours after the fire was reported.

Lack of enough water available at the fire site and fire fighting equipment such as snorkels and oxygen masks have seriously affected the rescue work.

Rescue workers said a dozen of bodies of workers have been found lying in the basement and on the first floor of the building. However, it will take them another few hours to recover the bodies as the building could collapse at any moment after such a long time burning.

Both Pakistani president and prime minister have expressed sorrow over the massive loss of lives in the factory fire and Prime Minister Ashraf, who is currently on a visit to China, has instructed relevant authorities to give the best medical treatment to the injured.

Governor of Sindh Province with Karachi as its capital announced a one-day mourning for the fire victims Wednesday.

Industrial minister of the province has announced a compensation of 500,000 rupees ($5,300) and 200, 000 rupees ($2,100) each for the killed and injured in the fire, respectively.

Police department of the city has put the name of the factory's owner on the Exit-Control-List to prevent him from fleeing the country. A manhunt for the owners is already on the way.

This is the second serious factory fire reported in the country over the last 24 hours. On Tuesday afternoon, a fire broke out at a shoes factory in the country's eastern city of Lahore, which has so far killed 26 people and injured another 26.

Initial investigations showed that the fire in Lahore could be caused by short circuit. However, the cause of the Karachi factory fire is yet to be determined though some of the local media speculated that the fire could be caused by short circuit resulted from the heavy rains that had battered the city for the last few days.

Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik was quoted by local media as saying that the two fires erupting almost simultaneously in the country's two largest cities seemed to be an coordinated activity of terrorists.