KARACHI, Sept 22: A tribunal investigating the deadly Baldia factory fire on Saturday recommended that the help of independent professionals be sought to determine the cause of the fire as the police had expressed their inability to do so and the factory owners agreed to bear such experts expenses.

Retried Justice Zahid Qurban Alvi, who is heading the inquiry tribunal set up by the Sindh government to ascertain the cause of the fire, fix responsibility and recommend legal action against responsible persons, said he visited the gutted factory on Friday and noticed that smoke was still billowing from the ground floor of the industrial unit and asked the SSP (west) that if the police had any expert to examine it. The police officer replied in the negative.

The inquiry officer suggested that the assistance of an independent professional or group of professionals be availed to make the inquiry conclusive.

The factory owners were supposed to appear before the tribunal on Saturday to record their statements, but their counsel Amir Mansoob Qureshi turned up and requested the inquiry officer to allow time to his clients who were stuck at Islamabad as their flight was delayed.

Responding to the concerns of the tribunal over the non-appearance of the owners, who were nominated in the FIR, the counsel said his clients had some important documents to produce before the tribunal. However, he contended that they were facing four inquires and were being harassed.

When Justice Alvi asked the lawyer to produce before the tribunal if he had any material, he said they had original files, which were in the process of printing.

The tribunal asked the counsel if his clients were ready to pay the expenses if the services of independent/foreign experts were hired to find out the cause of the fire.

He replied in the positive and said since the owners of the gutted factory had no faith in local investigators, they were keen to get the services of independent experts.

Mr Qureshi claimed that the factory was registered with the relevant departments. He also assured the tribunal about the appearance of general manager/contactor Mansoor, who police said had gone underground after the incident.

The inquiry officer directed the owners through their counsel to appear before the tribunal on Monday. The lawyer also filed an application seeking copies of the statements so far recorded by the tribunal.

A representative of the civil defence department submitted a report on Saturday, saying the department trained 101 fire fighters, 14 rescuers and 87 persons in first aid during the last four years in district west.

The tribunal expressed dissatisfaction over the department’s performance and said the manpower trained was insufficient since around 2,700 factories were operating in SITE alone.

On a previous hearing, the inquiry officer had directed the police to bring along the footage of the closed-circuit television cameras, but no policeman appeared before the tribunal on Saturday.