KARACHI: As police waited for the reports of the Civil Defence and fire departments to determine whether the Regent Plaza Hotel fire was an outcome of some criminal negligence on the part of the management, an independent expert body on Tuesday claimed that it had carried out an inspection about a year ago and warned the owners about the vulnerable and dilapidated electrical system that posed a serious threat to people’s lives.

Twelve people, including five doctors, were killed and over 80 others injured in the fire that broke out in the hotel’s kitchen on the ground floor and spread to its other parts. Most people died because of suffocation since smoke spread to rooms through air-conditioning ducts.

While the departments con­cerned have yet to ascertain the exact cause of the fire, administration management Major Mohammad Saad suspected that the fire was started by a short circuit in one of the freezers on the ground-floor kitchen.

A private electrical safety and audit assessment organisation, the Electrical Inspector Pakistan (EIP) which was designated by the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry to carry out random inspections of affiliated organisations, revealed its one-year-old report that showed serious flaws on the part of the hotel management.

“On behalf of the task assigned by the KCCI, we inspect business facilities randomly to check all their electrical system,” said Engineer Wali Muhammad Rahimoon of the EIP. “So we had inspected two hotels about a year ago. This one [Regent Plaza Hotel] and another one near the Chief Minister House and we found the electrical system of both hotels almost collapsed.”

Mr Rahimoon said he and his team had informed the management of the two hotels about the situation and advised them to revamp their electrical system as early as possible, as they were not only violating local and international standards as well as the Electricity Act and Nepra Act, but also posed a serious threat to lives of people.

However, the hotel management could not be reached for comment on Mr Rahimoon’s disclosures.

Meanwhile, SSP-South Saqib Ismail said that the police had requested the Civil Defence and fire department to either establish the element of criminal negligence, if any, or declare the incident purely an accident.

“They [Civil Defence and fire department] have been requested to report whether all safety measures were in place or not,” he said. “If not, was there any criminal negligence on the part of the hotel management?”

He explained that the departments would inform the police about basic technical facts that included existence of emergency exits, in-house alarm and fire-fighting system in working condition and the response from the designated staff.

The SSP said if a case of criminal negligence established by the departments concerned, the police would move in line with the defined rules for a proper investigation.

Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2016