At least six people killed after huge shopping centre fire in Pakistan

At least six people have been killed in a large fire that erupted at the Gul Plaza shopping mall in Pakistan's Karachi on Saturday night, according to the Edhi Foundation, whose rescue personnel are participating in the ongoing operation at the site.

The operation to put out the fire is still under way, according to updates received around 11:30am (GMT+5), hours after the blaze erupted.

South Deputy Inspector General Syed Asad Raza told Dawn today (Sunday) morning that the initially reported death toll of three from the fire had risen to five. Later, the Edhi Foundation said in a statement that one more death had taken the toll to six.

Separately, Rescue 1122 spokesperson Hassaanul Haseeb Khan told Dawn in the morning that around 20 people had been injured in the incident.

As of early Sunday morning, he said, the fire had been controlled up to 30 per cent.

The rescue service spokesperson said there were around 1,200 shops in the mall. "There are goods such as crockery, clothes, electrical appliances, cosmetics and perfumes in various shops, due to which the fire intensified."

Khan added that on Sunday morning, 20 fire tenders from different departments and institutions were being employed to extinguish the blaze.

"But the building appears very old, and there is a danger that its structure may fall anytime because of the impact of the fire. Thus, the rescue operation is being carried out with extreme caution," he said.

He earlier told Dawn that the fire had erupted in shops located on the building"s ground floor.

In a morning update, the Edhi Foundation said that a part of the building had collapsed due to the intensity of the fire.