Minor fire breaks out at Karachi mayor’s office

KARACHI: A minor fire broke out at the office of Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab on Tuesday, prompting fire and rescue teams to reach the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) headquarters.

Officials said the fire started in the external unit of an air conditioner installed on the first floor of the historic KMC building.

South Deputy Inspector General Asad Raza described the incident as a minor fire. Rescue 1122 teams and fire tenders were dispatched to the building and brought the blaze under control.

No casualties were reported. Officials said the air conditioner’s external unit was damaged, while the fire was likely caused by a short circuit.

The incident comes amid repeated fire emergencies in Karachi, where electrical faults, ageing infrastructure and inadequate safety arrangements have frequently contributed to blazes in commercial and industrial buildings.

On Monday, at least three people suffered minor smoke-inhalation injuries after a major fire broke out at a factory in the Karachi Export Processing Zone near Landhi. The blaze damaged several factories and destroyed a significant portion of a three-storey industrial unit.

Karachi has also witnessed several major fires this year. A deadly blaze at Gul Plaza shopping mall in January claimed at least 73 lives and destroyed more than 1,100 shops.

Other significant fires have been reported at industrial facilities, a high-rise building near Baloch Colony, a chemical factory in the SITE area and a supermarket branch in Zamzama.

In June, hundreds of people were evacuated after a fire broke out in a cold-storage facility at a department store inside a shopping mall on Rashid Minhas Road.