The delayed control of the deadly Gul Plaza fire has exposed a major lapse in the Karachi Fire Brigade: the absence of a permanent fire chief for nearly a year.

According to sources, the last Chief Fire Officer, Ishtiaq Ahmed, retired in 2024.

Following his retirement, Humayun Khan was brought in from another department the same year and appointed as acting in charge.

No chief fire officer has so far been appointed despite a court order in August 2025.

Lack of required qualifications

Officials said that Humayun Khan is not among the senior fire officers.

He is the leader of the Urban Search and Rescue team and was directly promoted from Grade 12 to Grade 17.

It has also been revealed that Humayun Khan, who holds a bachelor’s degree, does not meet the educational requirement of an MSc degree prescribed for the post of Chief Fire Officer.

Detection dogs not used

Meanwhile, it has emerged that detection or sniffer dogs, used to locate people trapped under debris, are missing from the Urban Search and Rescue unit.

These dogs were not used during the search operation at Gul Plaza, despite the city government having purchased them from the Pakistan Army in 2008 at a cost of over Rs700,000.

Meanwhile, the search operation at Gul Plaza continued for the eighth consecutive day.

71 deaths confirmed

So far, 71 deaths have been confirmed, while 77 people remain missing. The process of identification through DNA testing is ongoing.

Senior fire officer Zafar Khan said that instead of bodies, only body parts are now being recovered from the debris, further complicating the identification process.

He added that it is becoming increasingly difficult to determine which remains belong to which victim.

Nasira, the sister of missing victim Mohsin Shikari, told the media that she had personally gone inside the building to assess the situation and no longer blamed the authorities.

Families hopes fade

She said the family initially hoped to find some trace of her brother, but that now appeared unlikely, and appealed to the public to pray for the victims.

The KMC Urban Search and Rescue team has also recovered three digital video recorders (DVRs) from a room near the mosque inside Gul Plaza.

The DVRs and their chargers have been handed over to the South district administration. Officials said the devices are expected to help determine the cause of the fire.