Karachi: Over 150 huts were burned to ashes in a fire that broke out at a shanty town in the Gulshan-e-Qadri area of Malir in Karachi in the wee hours of Tuesday.
The blaze started in the huts and spread quickly, destroying over 150 makeshift shelters. The blaze injured at least three people, who were shifted to hospital by the rescue workers.
As many as eight fire brigade vehicles extinguished the flames after a hectic operation for hours and the cooling process was under way. The rescue workers said that the shanty dwellers residing in the huts in Malir No-15 were evacuated safely.
However, three people, including a woman, sustained critical burn injuries during the fire and were shifted to the hospital for medical treatment.
According to the fire brigade, the cause of the blaze could not be ascertained immediately.
In November 2021, over 100 huts were destroyed by a fire in a Karachi slum in Teenhatti neighbourhood.
In 2020, a similar fire gutted about a hundred burlap-and-plastic dwellings in the same neighbourhood, whose residents get by mostly begging and working odd jobs. Several people reside in open spaces near Lyari. Most houses are composed of cane, burlap, and plastic, while some have tin roofing.
