Vehicle, old record burnt of passport office in fire at Karachi’s Saddar

• Chief fire officer says old record were kept in affected offices.
• No casualty reported in incident, he says.
• Police say Passport Office’s godown caught fire.

KARACHI: A vehicle and old record was burnt as a blaze on Sunday swept through old offices of the Saddar Passport Office in Karachi.

Chief Fire Officer Abrar Sheikh apprised this to media adding that the fire was doused with the help of five fire tenders and a snorkel.

Sheikh said old goods were kept in the affected offices and luckily no casualty was reported in the incident.

Earlier, police said the Passport Office’s godown had caught fire where old documents, vehicles and other goods were kept.

On December 6, at least three people had died and the two got injured when a six-storey apartment building in Karachi’s FB Area near Ayesha Manzil — which remains very busy throughout the day — caught fire, with residents of the building present inside at the time of the incident.

Initially, a shop had caught fire as a result of a short circuit, but the flames later spread to other shops that were part of the furniture market situated under the building. The blaze had spread rapidly and soon engulfed the entire building comprising 250 shops and 450 apartments, creating panic among the dwellers.

However, the building was completely evacuated within two hours, as the Fire Department teams reached to the site and acted swiftly to douse the blaze after it was reported.