Residents left homeless after dangerous fire at Chase departmental store
The Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) declared the building dangerous after its structure was affected due to the fire at the departmental store
KARACHI: The fire at the Cheese department store located on Jail Road in Karachi has not been brought under control yet, whereas, an employee who lost consciousness due to smoke died during treatment while three persons were injured in the incident.
According to details, firefighters are still unable to douse the blaze that started at 11:10 am yesterday. Senior firefighting officer Arif Mansoori told the media the dousing process could take another 6 to 8 hours.
He said that there was no arrangement of fire extinguishers in the department store and the building has no emergency exit. Mansoori added that 80 per cent of the blaze is contained but the firefighters are still having difficulty in the dousing process due to heavy smoke.
The young man who died of smoke in the department store has been identified as an employee of the store, who was hired the day before.
According to News 360 sources, the management had ordered him not to leave the basement at any cost which led the man to lose his life just to save his job. The body of the deceased youth was recovered from the mezzanine floor which was made inside the warehouse.
Rescue officials shifted the body to Civil Hospital and later to Jinnah Hospital.
The three burn victims were shifted to the Civil Hospital’s burn ward where they are receiving medical treatment. A 32-year-old woman was also included in the wounded people, Jinnah Hospital’s Additional Police Surgeon Dr Samia Syed said.
According to the latest reports, the fire started in the basement and reached the reception door of the department store.
Rescue officials say more than a dozen fire tenders are working to contain the blaze at the cheese department store. Chemicals are also being used to control the fire.
According to News360 sources, the management of the Chase departmental store had turned the car parking space into a warehouse which was packed with stocks of different commodities ahead of Eid-ul-Adha.
News360 sources said that there are about 170 flats in the building above the warehouse of “Cheese Department Store” and the market value of each flat is around Rs30-40 million. the occupants of all these flats have been displaced since yesterday.
The Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) declared the building dangerous after its structure was affected due to the fire at the departmental store.
