Daily Times

KARACHI: An investigative report on the fire at a private hotel in Karachi which claimed 12 lives earlier this week has declared the hotel administration and civil defense responsible for the tragedy.

The report, which was presented to Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah earlier today (Thursday), claimed that there was negligence on the part of hotel administration. Ill safety measures at the hotel for dealing with emergency incidents such as fire were mainly responsible for the losses.

There were no trained personnel at the hotel for extinguishing the fire and all of the emergency exits were closed, police sources said in the report.

The fire alarms present in the hotel did not meet quality standards. There were no arrangements in place to open windows in the event of a fire breakout, police stated.

The hotel also did not have prominent emergency exits or folding ladders, police said.

Fire extinguishing measures at the hotel were not of international standards, the report said.

Even four days after the tragedy, authorities have failed to register an FIR against the incident.

12 people were killed and more than 110 injured in a blaze in a private hotel at Shahrah-e-Faisal on Monday.

According to hotel sources, the fire broke out at 3:00AM in the kitchen located in the basement of the hotel and travelled through the air conditioning ducts, engulfing a major part of the hotel in flames.