KARACHI: A blaze that erupted on Monday night in the warehouse of an online food and grocery delivery company in Nazimabad was put out after hectic efforts lasting for several hours on Tuesday morning, officials said.

No one was hurt in the incident.

Around a dozen fire tenders and a number of water bowsers took part in the efforts to douse the fire that was apparently caused by a short circuit in Foodpanda’s Pandamart in Nazimabad No, the officials added.

The blaze took place in the basement where grocery and consumer items were stacked.

Rescue-1122 official Hassaan Khan told Dawn that the fire had erupted at around 7pm on Monday but they were “informed about it at 10pm”.

He said firefighters faced immense difficulties in controlling the fire partly because there was only one staircase leading to the basement. And secondly the basement had a stock of combustible items like cooking oil, etc, which created problems. Dense smoke had accumulated there, causing difficulties for firemen to enter the affected premises.

The authorities called in an excavator to create an opening to vent the smoke accumulated inside the underground room.

He said the fire was put out by 6:30am on Tuesday.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2025