Firefighters in Pakistan's Capital Low on Fuel

Local news accounts in Pakistan charge that fire trucks dispatched to fight a towel factory fire at an industrial park Thursday in Karachi ran short of fuel, forcing park officials to provide more.

M. Farhan, a representative of the Sindh Industrial Trading Estate Association of Industry, informed media that they had given the firefighters 150 liters of diesel at the scene and were on standby to provide more.

Firefighters need three hours to extinguish the fire in the three-story factory building. Contents of the building were heavily damaged but there were no injuries reported.

Newspapers reported that in a city of 20 million people the fire department could only field four functional fire truck during the region’s dry season. Only two of those arrived at the factory fire.

The other 18 trucks belonging to the department were sidelined by either repair issues or the lack of diesel. Nearly half the city fire stations are presently closed.

The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation has since released funds to supply diesel for the fire vehicles.