Rescue workers clearing Karachi inferno ruins, 63 missing feared dead

Firefighters were clearing the charred ruins of a Karachi mall on Tuesday as they tried to locate 63 people still missing after a fire that burned for nearly two days and killed 21 people.

Police have said most of the missing are feared dead and rescue workers were trying to locate bodies in the debris.

The city's largest fire in over a decade started late on Saturday and quickly spread through the sprawling Gul Plaza shopping complex, famous for its 1,200 family-owned stores that sold wedding clothes, toys, crockery and much else.

Firefighters battled the flames that created an inferno inside the mall throughout the night and late into Sunday before bringing the blaze under control, although small fires continued to break out across the ruins.

Much of the once-imposing structure, larger than a football field, was reduced to a pile of ash and debris scattered across the street as rescue workers searched for a growing list of missing people.

Rizwan Ahmed from the Rescue 1122 group said on Tuesday that 21 people were killed in the blaze while another 63 were still missing, nearly three days after the fire began.

INVESTIGATION PROMISED

Relief workers dug through the rubble and brought out human remains in sacks before sending them for DNA testing.

Senior police official Syed Asad Raza told Reuters that 15 DNA samples had been collected by Monday night to help identify the bodies.

There was also rising anger at the scene with people blaming a delayed rescue effort and jeering the city's mayor when he showed up at the site nearly 24 hours after the fire began.

The government has said it will investigate the cause of the fire and the response.

Police also said that all but three of the mall's 16 exits were locked when the fire began around the mall's closing time.

Gul Plaza's management did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.