Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab’s office was completely gutted after a fire erupted at the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) head office on Tuesday.
The fire department said the blaze broke out in a kitchen adjacent to the mayor’s office at the KMC head office.
A spokesperson for KMC said that the fire erupted in the kitchen and spread to the mayor’s office and the office of his personal secretary.
Authorities deployed two fire tenders to extinguish the flames, the spokesperson added.
According to the spokesperson, Mayor Wahab’s staff and other KMC personnel were present when the fire erupted. However, they evacuated the building in time.
The Karachi mayor said that an investigation would determine how the fire started at the KMC head office, adding that the chief fire officer had been tasked with looking into the incident.
He said that furniture had been burnt in the fire, but the blaze had been brought under control. “My room has been burnt; there was no such file [there].”
He explained that files in his possession were unsigned and, after he signed them, they were sent to the offices of the relevant officers.
He also said firefighting staff had been engaged since the night in extinguishing a separate fire at a factory in Landhi.
The incident comes only a day after three people, including a woman, reportedly suffered breathing difficulties after a fire broke out at an old-clothes factory in the Landhi Export Processing Zone (EPZ) on Monday.
According to a fire brigade spokesperson, the blaze was classified as a third-degree fire, prompting authorities to call in additional firefighting resources. As many as 11 KMC fire tenders, two water tankers and a snorkel were deployed to extinguish the blaze, while more fire tenders were also summoned.
Earlier this year, a deadly fire ripped through Karachi’s Gul Plaza — a popular three-storey shopping mall in the port city, killing more than 70 people and exposed serious safety failures in the country’s largest city.
The building, housing almost 1,200 businesses across its basement, mezzanine and three floors, had a variety of options for Karachiites, such as wedding wear, toys, household items, baby clothes and many more, all of which were turned to ashes as a result of the incident.
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