Death toll from Pakistan mall fire rises to 67
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- Death toll from a shopping mall fire in Karachi rises to 67, up from 55 a day earlier.
- DNA testing continues as families criticize slow search and recovery efforts.
The death toll from a massive fire at a shopping mall in southern Pakistan has risen to 67, local authorities said Friday, as recovery and identification efforts continued nearly a week after the blaze.
The fire broke out on Saturday at Gul Plaza, a three-story shopping center in Karachi, the country’s largest city. Officials said the previous toll stood at 55 before being revised upward following further inspections and forensic work.
A spokesperson for the provincial government said 64 bodies have been autopsied so far, adding that the identities of eight victims have been formally confirmed.
DNA identification underway
More than 50 families have submitted DNA samples in hopes of identifying missing relatives. Authorities said bodies will be released to families only after DNA analysis is completed and identities are verified.
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Sumia Syed, the provincial health official, told reporters outside a hospital morgue that DNA samples had been collected from around 50 families. “We will hand over the bodies to the families after matching DNA samples and confirming identities,” she said.
Families criticize response
Some relatives of the victims have criticized authorities over what they described as slow search and recovery operations. Clearance work has continued amid charred debris inside the mall as teams search for any remaining victims.
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Gul Plaza houses around 1,200 shops selling wedding clothing, children’s toys, pottery, and other goods, and is typically crowded with shoppers.
Repeated safety concerns
Karachi’s markets and factories, many of which suffer from aging and unsafe infrastructure, frequently experience fires. However, incidents of this scale remain rare, underscoring ongoing concerns over safety standards and emergency preparedness in the city.
