Karachi fire death toll rises to 23 as dozens remain missing

KARACHI, Pakistan — The death toll from a massive fire at a Karachi shopping mall rose to at least 23 on Monday as rescuers recovered more bodies from the gutted building, officials said.

The blaze broke out Sunday and burned for nearly 24 hours before firefighters brought it under control, allowing search teams to enter the structure. City Police Chief Asad Raza warned that the casualty count is expected to rise as 46 people remain missing.

Only six victims have been identified so far. Police surgeons said the remaining bodies are severely disfigured, requiring DNA testing for identification. Authorities are currently collecting samples from relatives of the missing.

While official tallies stand at 23, local media outlets reported that at least 26 people died in the inferno.

The Sindh provincial government announced it would provide 10 million rupees (approximately $36,000) in compensation to the families of each victim.

Investigators said the fire spread rapidly because the mall’s shops were filled with highly flammable materials, including cosmetics, garments, and plastic goods.

The catastrophic fire in Karachi serves as a grim reminder of the systemic fire safety risks embedded within South Asia’s rapidly expanding megacities. With a high death toll and dozens still missing, the disaster underscores a critical failure in building code compliance and regulatory oversight.

The rapid spread of the blaze through commercial units stocked with flammable materials, such as cosmetics and plastics, highlights a recurring pattern: the expansion of high-density retail spaces without rigorous adherence to fire safety standards. This incident raises urgent questions regarding the enforcement capacity of local authorities and the extent to which safety protocols are bypassed in favor of economic expediency.

While the government’s announcement of financial compensation provides immediate relief to victims, the true measure of administrative efficacy will lie in the subsequent policy response. The pivotal question remains whether this tragedy will catalyze a comprehensive audit of national construction safety regulations or if it will be relegated to a cycle of reactive crisis management. For cities of this density, the priority must shift from disaster response to preventative policy—a discipline that remains chronically overlooked in the region’s urban planning.