Sharp rise in fatalities at Karachi’s Gul Plaza Shopping Centre came after 30 bodies were found in a locked store.

The death toll from a fire at a shopping centre in Karachi has risen to at least 60, after at least 30 bodies were found in a single burned shop, Pakistani officials have said.

Search and recovery operations at Gul Plaza Shopping Centre continued on Thursday, with teams working to locate more than 80 people still missing from Saturday’s devastating blaze in the densely packed commercial complex, officials said.

At least 30 bodies were recovered from a mezzanine-floor shop, Karachi South Deputy Inspector General Syed Asad Raza told the daily Dawn newspaper. He said the overall death toll was estimated at 61 following the latest discoveries, adding that the final figure would be confirmed after DNA analysis is completed.

The 30 bodies were located from the shop, “Dubai Crockery”, according to Karachi South Deputy Commissioner Javed Nabi Khoso.

He said the victims had locked themselves in the shop in a bid to protect themselves. Local media reported the victims had taken refuge inside the store after a stampede broke out in the mall during the early moments of Saturday’s fire.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah expressed grief over the rising death toll and ordered that debris removal be halted until all bodies were retrieved, local media reported.

Teams were collecting samples from remains found in the complex for identification, as officials warned the toll could rise further.

More than 50 families have given DNA samples, provincial health official Summaiya Syed told journalists on Wednesday.

“We will hand over the [remains] to the family, once DNA samples are matched,” she said outside the Civil Hospital Karachi mortuary, the AFP news agency reported.

Relatives of the missing have criticised the slow operation at the three-storey complex in the wake of the blaze.

Faraz Ali, whose father and 26-year-old brother were inside the mall, told AFP he wanted “the bodies to be recovered and handed over to their rightful families”.

“That is all so that the families may receive something, some comfort, some peace. At least let us see them one last time, in whatever condition they are, so that we may say our final goodbye,” the 28-year-old said.

Karachi Commissioner Syed Hassan Naqvi, head of an inquiry committee formed by the Sindh government to investigate the fire, visited the mall on Wednesday and said that the fire safety measures did not meet international standards, local media reported.

No specific cause has yet been given for the blaze.

Karachi has a history of deadly fires, often blamed on poor safety standards and illegal construction, although ones with such a high death toll are rare.

In November 2023, a fire at a shopping centre in the city killed 10 people and injured 22 others.

A blaze at a garments factory in Karachi in 2012 killed 260 people.