KARACHI: A fire that broke out in a city hotel on Sharea Faisal on Monday was put out after hectic efforts of two hours, officials said.

The Artillery Maidan police said the fire erupted in a room on the third floor of Hotel Mehran Karachi.

Rescue-1122 official Hassaan Khan told Dawn that hotel staff and some guests staying on the same third floor were safely evacuated by firefighters and rescue workers and there were no casualties.

He said that they received information about the fire at around 12:31pm. Four fire tenders managed to control the fire at 2:27pm, he added.

He said that the firefighters faced difficulties due to thick smoke that spread throughout the hotel, making it challenging for them to enter through the staircase. They made a forcible entry by breaking a window on the third floor, he added.

Several offices gutted in another blaze that erupted at Namco Centre

The room where the blaze originated was completely gutted, the official said, adding that apparently some short-circuit caused the fire.

He claimed that the hotel had a fire safety system, but it was not adequate enough to deal with such a huge fire.

Two more fires

A fire destroyed several offices of lawyers in New Chali on Monday.

The Mithadar police said a man suffered injuries in the fire that started on the second floor of Namco Centre.

Hassan Khan of Rescue-1122 told Dawn that one person ostensibly due to panic jumped from the second floor and suffered injuries. He was taken to the nearby Civil Hospital Karachi for treatment.

The fire destroyed several offices, he said, adding that the exact cause of the fire could not be ascertained till late in the night, but it was suspected that some short-circuit might have triggered it.

Another fire broke out in an under-construction block/extension of a pharmaceutical factory in the SITE area on Monday afternoon.

Three fire tenders controlled the blaze. The building was empty at the time of the incident.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2024