2026 Gul Plaza Shopping Mall fire
Back side of Gul Plaza after the fire | |
| Date | 17–21 January 2026 |
|---|---|
| Time | ~21:50 (PKT) |
| Duration | 36 hours |
| Location | Gul Plaza, MA Jinnah Road, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan |
| Coordinates | 24°51′54″N 67°01′27″E / 24.8651°N 67.0241°E |
| Type | Third-degree blaze |
| Cause | Children playing with lighters or matches in artificial flower shop |
| Deaths | 80 |
| Non-fatal injuries | 20+ |
| Missing | 49 |
On 17 January 2026, a fire at the Gul Plaza shopping mall in Karachi, Pakistan, killed 80 people and injured over 20. The fire started after an unattended child accidentally set some artificial flowers alight with a matchstick in a shop on the ground floor. The fire spread rapidly through an air-conditioning duct to the rest of the building. The shopping mall lacked fire extinguishers or emergency exit lights, and many of the exits were locked.
A city-wide emergency was declared shortly after the fire broke out. Firefighters lacked the rescue equipment needed to conduct a rescue operation, such as gas masks or lock cutters, and responded slowly. The boiling water used to extinguish the fire also severely scalded some victims.
At the request of the Sindh government, the Sindh High Court appointed Justice Agha Faisal to lead a single-member inquiry into the fire.