KARACHI – It took firefighters more than 33 hours to bring the Gul Plaza fire under control which claimed 14 lives and injured 30 people, 11 of them seriously, with the fate of dozens of trapped people unknown.

The fire which started on Saturday night has damaged the basic structure of the building which caused a major portion to collapse.

Firefighters began cooling the steaming rubble of the nearly collapsed structure. Personnel of Pakistan Navy, Sindh Rangers and Rescue 1122 have doused the fire after hectic efforts.

Fire Brigade Operational In-charge Zafar Khan said that the fire has been brought under control. He said that the lack of ventilation in the mall, which housed more than 1,200 shops, caused the building to fill with smoke and slowed rescue efforts.

Sindh police chief Javed Alam Odho told reporters at the site that the fire appeared to have been caused by a circuit breaker.

He said that the nature of the items in the building, such as carpets, blankets and other objects made of resins, had made it difficult to bring the fire under control.

Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab told media at the scene that 65 people were still missing.

Reuters adds: The fire erupted on Saturday night, with rescue services receiving a call at 10:38 pm (1738 GMT) reporting that ground-floor shops at the multi-storey Gul Plaza shopping centre were ablaze.

“When we arrived, the fire from the ground floor had spread to the upper floors, and almost the entire building was already engulfed in flames,” Rescue 1122 spokesperson Hassanul Haseeb Khan told Reuters.