Police on Saturday registered a first information report (FIR) over the devastating Gul Plaza inferno, citing the incident as an “outcome of negligence and carelessness”.
The deadly inferno, which erupted on the night of January 17 at the mall and took nearly two days to be fully extinguished, has left the ground-plus-three-storey building in ruins, with some sections collapsed. It has so far claimed 71 lives.
South DIG Syed Asad Raza confirmed that the FIR had been registered on behalf of the state, through a police official, under relevant laws.
According to the FIR, Nabi Bux police station SHO Inspector Nawaz Ali Zardari said the police received information about the fire in the plaza at around 10:30pm on January 17.
The FIR added that the fire was “rapidly spreading and engulfed the entire plaza” while firefighters and other rescue personnel were engaged in efforts to extinguish the blaze.
It further stated that the fire erupted in shop number 193, a flower and gift shop, located on the ground floor, and quickly spread in the shopping plaza.
“Rescue work is ongoing and there are apprehensions of more deaths,” said the FIR.
The police also blamed the lack of firefighting equipment and “no reasonable arrangements” in the case of an emergency for the tragedy.
The report added that there were “no emergency exits” and that electricity had been switched off, complicating the evacuation of those inside the shopping plaza.
“Due to these reasons, precious human lives were lost and substantive financial losses also occurred.”
The FIR has been registered under Sections 322, 337-H(i), 436, and 427 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). Police have not nominated anyone in the case; therefore, the FIR has been registered against unknown persons.
