No casualties were reported after a fire erupted in a plastic factory in Karachi’s Liaquatabad area early on Wednesday and was extinguished after hectic efforts, according to a rescue official.

Rescue 1122 Spokesperson Hassaanul Haseeb Khan told Dawn.com, “The fire erupted in the plastic factory located in a market near Sindhi Hotel in Liaquatabad at around 7:30am.”

He said three fire tenders managed to control it, and no casualties were reported.

Liaquatabad Station House Officer Ghulam Yasin told Dawn.com that the fire appeared to have been caused by a short circuit.

Fires frequently erupt in buildings across Pakistan due to a mix of poor infrastructure, weak enforcement of safety regulations, and widespread negligence. Many structures lack proper fire exits, alarms, and emergency protocols, while faulty wiring and overloaded power systems increase the risk of electrical short circuits.

According to city planners and engineers, 70 per cent of residential, commercial and industrial buildings in Karachi lacked an adequate fire safety system. Citing official data of the city’s fire department, Fire Protection Association President Kunwar Waseem said the city witnessed nearly 3,000 such incidents in 2024.

On September 9, four firefighters and one cameraman of a private TV channel were injured when a huge fire destroyed a three-storey garment factory in New Karachi Industrial Area and also damaged two other adjacent factories.

Later that month, two women died and nine other people were rescued in a fire that erupted in a four-storey building in the city’s Defence Housing Authority.

In August, at least six people died in a fire inside a warehouse near Karachi’s Taj Medical Complex, while eight were injured in another blaze at a factory in the Karachi Export Processing Zone (KEPZ) near Landhi earlier that month.