KARACHI (Dunya News) - The death toll from Karachi’s Gul Plaza fire has risen to 71 as rescue teams recovered additional human remains during ongoing search operations, Dunya News reported.
Deputy Commissioner South Javed Nabi Khoso confirmed that out of 82 persons, who were reported missing after the Gul Plaza inferno, 71 bodies or human remains of missing persons have been recovered so far while 11 are still missing.
He informed that Gul Plaza has been 90 percent cleared saying that the search operation is expected to be completed tonight.
He said that with the help of snorkels, rescue teams re-entered the upper floors of the fire-hit plaza. However, the search operation has not yet begun in the most sensitive part of the building.
According to Police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed, 16 bodies have been identified so far. She said that due to severe burning of the bodies, the DNA identification process has become very complicated.
On the other hand, the process of releasing compensation funds for the families of the deceased has been initiated, and the details of the families of eight victims have been completed.
The Deputy Commissioner South has forwarded the compensation cases to the Sindh government. The Sindh government has already announced compensation of Rs 10 million (one crore rupees) for each deceased person’s family.