The fire that erupted in Ghakar Plaza building on Saturday morning was raging till the Saturday evening, mainly due to lack of coordinated efforts by various rescue agencies trying to extinguish the fire.
The agencies such as the Water and Sanitation Authority, 111-Brigade, Civil Defence, Army, Rescue 1122 and Fire Brigade were seen battling the fire and rescuing the people trapped under the rubble.
Brushing aside the claim that there was no coordination between the rescue agencies, Divisional Commissioner Haseeb Athar told Daily Times said that the district coordination officer was overseeing the rescue operations.
District Coordination Officer Imdadullah Bosal said that there was coordination among all the agencies and that actions were being taken after consulting him. He said that a camp was set up near the Ghakhar Plaza where the commissioner and officials of other agencies were present.
Departments’ weaknesses exposed: Ghakhar Plaza incident exposed the weaknesses of rescue departments, as they reached the spot after 20 minutes of call, said security guards of the plaza.
They told Daily Times that at about 2: 30am they saw huge flames inside the plaza and heard calls for help from the people trapping inside.
The guards said they immediately informed rescue departments including Rescue 1122, City and Cantonment Fire brigades and local police. They said the first fire engine reached the spot after 20 minutes of call and the rescuers were not fully prepared to extinguish fire, as they were without ladders. They said this huge loss could have been averted had the rescuers made a quick response to the call.
The spokesperson for Rescue 1122 said the rescue personnel were busy in extinguishing fire in the garrison area and they made a slight delay in launching the operation to save the precious lives in Ghakhar plaza. Around 20 vehicles of Rescue 1122 took part in the operation, he said, adding, a special team had also been called from Lahore to evacuate the people trapped under the debris of the collapsed plaza.
