Fires are common in Karachi’s industrial areas. There are 24 fire stations in different parts of the city, but whenever a fire breaks out in a factory located in an industrial area, there is a complaint that the fire engines arrived late, causing loss of life and property. This is what happened with the chemical factory fire that happened last week in which 17 labourers were killed.
On August 27, the fire broke out in the chemical factory in the Korangi Industrial Area and the workers died of suffocation. The cause of the fire has yet to be ascertained but factory workers at the spot told the media that as usual the fire brigade arrived late. By the time they came the fire had intensified and the entire building had been engulfed.
According to the records of the Central Control Room of the Fire Brigade, the first report of the fire was received at 10:08am and the first fire tender No. 605 left Korangi Fire Station at 10:10 am. The second fire tender left Landhi fire station at 10:24am and the third fire tender left Shah Faisal fire station at 10:26 am.
The first fire tender from Korangi fire station reached the spot at 10:48 am and driver Maqsood Khan informed the control room about the situation and sent a request for snorkels to the spot immediately. According to the records, a snorkel was dispatched from Garden Fire Station at 10:50am.
According to control room records, the fire was reported from a mobile number, but the informant did not reveal his name. When Samaa Digital contacted the informant, he said that his name was Zafar and that he worked in the same factory. According to Zafar, he was working on the ground floor when a fire broke out on the first floor.
The fire spread from the first floor to the second floor, leaving workers on the ground floor safe but trapped on the first and second floors. Zafar said employees tried to put out the fire but then called the fire brigade. Zafar claimed that the fire brigade arrived two hours late, causing the trapped employees in the building, including his nephew, to suffocate.
When Zafar was asked when he informed the fire brigade, he replied that he did not remember the exact time but he did remember that it was ten o’clock.
According to Zafar’s statement, the fire was reported to the fire brigade after 10am, which confirms the control room record, but on the other hand, it is worth mentioning that the fire was reported at 10:08 a.m. The first tender arrived at 10:48am. Why did the fire truck arrive late? To find out, Samaa Digital visited Korangi Fire Station and met Maqsood Khan, the driver of vehicle No. 605.
Maqsood said he left the fire station at 10:10 a.m. Korangi leads to Mehran Town from Shaan Chowrangi and Brookes Chowrangi. The driver claimed that he had called the firefighter on the spot several times to ask for directions but his number was constantly being blocked and he took the Shaan Chowrangi route to Mehran Town.
Maqsood said that while he was on his way to the site, he saw an Edhi vehicle and when he asked the ambulance driver where he was going, he said that there was a fire in the factory and he was also going there.
Maqsood said that when he asked if the route was known, the ambulance driver said that he was asked to reach Jinnah Medical College Hospital in Korangi Sector 7A from the control room. And so Maqsood followed the ambulance. But on the way, another call came from Korangi fire station and they were told that they were going in the wrong direction and the vehicle was diverted to another route.
When Maqsood was asked why he arrived at the site late, he said that when he entered Mehran Town from Shaan Chowrangi, all the roads in the area were dug up. He said that when he the factory, a large number of Edhi and Chhippa Foundation vehicles were already parked there and it took him a long time to get close.
Maqsood said he had announced several times over loudspeakers that the ambulances should be removed but the Edhi and Chhippa volunteers had abandoned their ambulances and rushed to the factory. According to the driver, two aid workers were so impatient to pick up the bodies that when they broke the grill on the second floor and climbed the ladder to enter, they fell down as the ladder slipped.
from SAMAA https://ift.tt/3jrS0bc
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