Affected shopkeepers say that the building has a total of 26 entry and exit doors, but at 10 PM at night, all gates are closed and only two doors are kept open.
Shopkeepers revealed that during the tragic incident, the people inside the building found 24 out of 26 doors closed as usual; there was no emergency exit, and the fire was spreading extremely rapidly. The entire market was filled with smoke.
Shopkeepers explained that at the time of the fire, the electricity was cut off; no one could see or understand anything. There was chaos and panic; trapped individuals faced severe breathing difficulties due to the smoke. Workers and customers were present in the shops at the time of the incident.
According to shopkeepers, shortly after the fire started, some people fainted and fell to the ground. Shopkeepers managed to rescue many people from the building on their own.
It may be recalled that rescue and debris removal operations, along with the search for missing persons, continue at the Gul Plaza shopping mall located on M.A. Jinnah Road in Karachi after the fire was extinguished. So far, 26 deaths have been confirmed, while 76 people remain missing after the incident.
