Outside Karachi’s Gul Plaza mall on Sunday, people could be seen crying, some quietly, some hysterically, as they waited anxiously, their eyes fixed on the smoke rising from the upper floors of the building that had caught fire the night before.

Some sat on the pavements, others stood holding their phones, asking the same question again and again: “Is there any news?”

“Just bring him out, please. I have a three-year-old child,” one woman said, staring at the smoke pouring from the upper floors where her husband was trapped.

Standing opposite the building, families watched the fire continue to eat into the building hour after hour. Some people clutched their phones tightly, checking their screens over and over. Relatives pleaded not for assurances but for information. They said they were waiting for “any sign” that would tell them that those inside the building were still alive.

Rescuers and firefighting officials were able to control the fire after 10pm on Sunday, twenty-four hours after the eruption, launching a search operation.

While authorities said that the cause of the fire could not be ascertained for sure at this stage, a short circuit was being blamed for igniting the blaze in a shop with flammable material.

Some people lashed out at authorities for not being fast enough. Others continued praying for their loved ones. Some simply waited in silence.

Six dead, more than 50 missing

Gul Plaza, the greenish-blue building, has long been the destination of choice for middle-class shoppers seeking domestic-use products at wholesale rates. A haggler’s paradise, many people prefer it to other, more specialised markets because traders here would stock varieties to satisfy all income groups.

Any household shopping trip, whether for carpets, crockery or household electronics, often leads to Gul Plaza. From so-called “first copies” to cheaper China-made items, the market has long catered to every budget. It is especially popular among families preparing for weddings, where shopping for dinner sets and other items for jahez (dowry) is a routine part of the visit.

By Sunday evening, authorities had confirmed six deaths, including that of a firefighter. South Deputy Commissioner Javed Nabi Khoso told DawnNewsTV that at least 22 people, including firefighters, had been injured and that the blaze was around 70 per cent under control.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, who inspected the site, said more than 50 people were believed to be missing.

For many outside, the numbers meant little compared to what they had seen themselves. Some relatives told Dawn that they watched parts of the building collapse where their sons or brothers worked.

Others spoke of desperate attempts to escape through smoke-filled stairwells. One man recalled how his nephew was separated from the rest of the family in the chaos, unable to find his way out because of the thick smoke. “His name was Churchill,” he said quietly.

Standing next to a fire brigade, a man told Dawn that his elder brother, along with three cousins, was missing. “Two boys, aged 15 and 18, are also with them,” he said.

A woman whose brother-in-law and his two sons were trapped inside the plaza pleaded for any information about them. “There has been no contact with them; all we want is an update,” she said.

“No one is telling us anything, and they are not allowing us to go inside,” she added, her voice trembling as tears streamed down her face.

As firefighters battled fresh flare-ups throughout the day, the scene resembled a long, punishing vigil. Water tankers lined the busy MA Jinnah Road, running dry one after another in the congested area.

By 9:30pm, fire crews could still be seen shifting from water to foam, then back again, turning hoses towards the upper floors that continued to belch smoke. Each new burst of flames drew anxious murmurs from the crowd, fingers pointing towards weakened sections of the façade that looked close to giving way.

‘I’m seeing death before me’

Those trapped inside the plaza seemed to be losing hope.

Sarfaraz, a shopkeeper, sent a WhatsApp message to his community before contact was lost. “This is my last message, forgive me if I ever committed any mistake,” he wrote, according to those who received the message during the day.

Others reported receiving similar pleas for forgiveness and messages that sounded like goodbyes. Traders told Dawn that another shopkeeper called from inside the building. “This is my last call; you will not hear me after this,” he said. “I am seeing death before me.”

The calls from the families and shopkeepers implied that the number of casualties and injures were supposed to rise, as the rescue operation continued.

Those who managed to escape spoke of suffocating conditions inside the building. Hamza Ali, a shopkeeper who found his way out through a washroom, said there was chaos inside and no proper air passage.

“I am still unaware of the whereabouts of my colleagues and the shopowner, as they are still stuck inside,” he said, adding that his eyes had swollen due to inflammation caused by the smoke.

“I request the authorities to look for my shopowner and fellow workers,” he said, adding that one of his coworkers lost his life while trying to save others.

A cousin of a 22-year-old worker trapped inside the plaza said her family watched in horror as the section of the building where he worked at a furniture shop collapsed. “We were all there, watching that part of the building come down,” she said.

Another man said his uncle owned a shop inside the plaza where his two sons worked. When the fire broke out, one of the sons jumped from a window to escape, while the other remained trapped inside. “We are waiting for him,” he said, his voice breaking. He added that the fire had still not been fully doused. “The authorities don’t seem to know what to do.”

Yet another man said his son, two nieces, two nephews and a worker were inside the plaza when the blaze erupted. As they tried to flee, one of his nephews was left behind, unable to find his way out through the thick smoke.

For some, like 60-year-old Kausar Parveen and five members of her family, the trip to the mall never ended. Their relatives said they last spoke to them around 10pm on Saturday. Since then, their phones have remained unreachable.

According to family sources in Delhi Colony, Kausar was accompanied by Irfan (35), Misbah (30), Kiran (27), Ashraf (40) and 14-year-old Maryam. They were supposed to be shopping for a family wedding, scheduled to be held after Eid.

Courage in the midst of despair

Amid the despair, stories of courage also emerged. Speaking to Dawn, a survivor, who didn’t reveal his name, said that a young boy from his town managed to rescue five children, bringing them out safely before going back inside the burning building.

“He had made it outside alive with five children, but he went inside again, saying there were more kids trapped inside and that he had to save them. He, however, did not return,” the man revealed.

“We will call him a martyr, because he embraced death while rescuing others.”

Across the road, near a relief tent, families of the missing sat together, clinging to one another as the hours dragged on. Two veiled women embraced each other, their eyes red and swollen, while male relatives tried to calm them down as their own composure frayed. From where they sat, they could see flames leap up again and again, each flare-up eroding what little hope remained.

‘Very upsetting incident’

Speaking at the scene of the incident, CM Murad said that it was a “very upsetting” incident, but stressed that authorities were making efforts to find the missing people.

He noted that the mall was a three-storey building with a basement and housed more than 1,000 shops.

“All municipal authorities acted immediately, according to what I have been informed, and all these things will be verified,” he said.

Pointing out that the mall was constructed in the 1980s, he said, “I admit that we could not control the deterioration that, without any study, multi-level buildings were allowed. And now if we stop them, the builders make a fuss that they are being bothered.”

The Sindh CM detailed that around 26 fire tenders, 10 bowsers and multiple snorkels took part in the fire extinguishing operations.

He highlighted that many buildings do not have materials to extinguish fire available inside the buildings, and stressed the need for fire exits to be properly marked.

Meanwhile, DC Khoso said that the presence of flammable material inside the mall was the “biggest challenge” in fully dousing the blaze.

However, for the families gathered outside the plaza, time stretched painfully, measured not in hours since the fire began, but in the growing fear that the answers they were waiting for might never come.

Header image: Firefighters douse a fire that broke out at a shopping mall in Karachi on January 18, 2026. — Rizwan Tabassum / AFP