KARACHI: A man died of suffocation on Wednesday after a fire broke out in the basement of a multi-storey residential building where a garment factory was located in Nazimabad, police and fire brigade officials said.

They said the blaze erupted in the basement of Marine View apartments in Hadi Market, Nazimabad 4, where ‘Saad garment factory’ was established. Its watchman, identified as Afroz Alam, 45, was found in semi-conscious condition and was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where he died.

A fire brigade official said the fire that broke out at 5:14am was controlled by 1pm after hectic efforts mainly because there was no exit or entry point to the basement. There was only a four-foot-wide space through which one could enter the basement. Nine fire tenders took part in the fire-fighting operation, he added.

Nazimabad SHO Ejaz Lodhi said no one had approached the police to register an FIR.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2014