At least 11 people died and a dozen others were left injured in a massive fire that broke out at a shopping centre on the Rashid Minhas Road in Karachi.

The blaze engulfed three floors of the building known as RJ Mall, with the fire raging for at least four hours.

Several shops were gutted before firefighters extinguished the flames and began the cooling process.

Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab told reporters that KMC’s fire department had confirmed 10 deaths in the blaze.

Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC) issued a list containing the names of seven people brought dead to the hospital and three others who were seriously injured.

Later JPMC officials said that 10 people had died. Another dead body was brought to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

The deaths were mainly caused by suffocation and many people fell unconscious but were rescued quickly.

Fire officers said they rescued at least 50 people from the shopping mall.

Generator on the roof

According to fire brigade officials, the fire started at 6:30am on the fourth, fifth and sixth floors of the building, which was brought under control around 10:30am.

The fire started from a generator placed on the roof and due to the smoke filling the upper floors of the building the rescuers faced difficulties, officials said.

Six fire tenders and snorkels were engaged in the firefighting efforts, according to fire brigade officials.

Fire brigade officials said that the fire spread from the sixth floor to the fourth floor, and dozens of shops were burnt to ashes.

Smoke plumes

The intensity of the fire caused window glass to fall down to the street, said the fire officials.

Huge flames were seen in videos shared on social media.

Electricity was suspended for the multi-story mall and surrounding buildings.