Massive blaze in Karachi’s Korangi finally dies down ‘on its own’

A massive fire that erupted near an oil refinery in Korangi Creek on March 28 died down on Tuesday, according to police.

Korangi Deputy Commissioner (DC) Maqsood Bhutto told media.com, “Currently, the fire has been completely extinguished on its own.”

He said that there was some residual smell in the atmosphere. The water continued to boil but it was restricted to a small area at the site, he added.

The huge flames erupted during the drilling of a housing project late last month and continued to rage for 18 days.

Rescue 1122 spokesperson Hassaan Khan said that the intensity of the flames had started to recede on Monday night and the flames disappeared around 4am.

He added that the rescue teams have winded up their operation, but the Cantonment Board, Pakistan Petroleum Limited, PSO and US experts whose services have been hired by the Sindh government through the Centre will continue their exploration work in the area.

A day earlier, the Sindh chief secretary’s spokesperson said that the government would consult American experts to help extinguish the fire after an inspection of the site revealed that its intensity had not decreased.

He said that during inspection, it was observed that the borehole had further expanded due to the volume of gas, and hot water continued to leak.

Last week, the federal government also constituted a committee of experts to conduct a detailed technical investigation to assess the cause and extent of the blaze.

Fire incidents are common in the metropolis due to the absence of adequate fire safety measures in buildings.

On Thursday, a huge fire broke out in a factory inside the Export Processing Zone located in Landhi Industrial Area Extension.

Last year, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) informed the Sindh High Court that it had conducted a fire safety audit of over 265 commercial buildings, and not a single one was found to have a fire safety certificate or a no-objection certificate (NOC) issued by the fire brigade department.

Out of 265 buildings, around 155 did not have fire alarms and smoke detectors installed, while the status of nine such buildings was not available in this respect, the KMC report added. Similarly, the condition of the wiring and electric system of over 155 buildings was termed unsatisfactory. Regarding access to firefighting equipment, the report said that around 200 buildings had no or unsatisfactory firefighting equipment.

The SHC had directed provincial authorities to ensure that relevant teams inspect all shopping malls in the city to ascertain safety standards in place.