Two die, one injured in Awami Markaz fire incident

ISLAMABAD, Sep 10 (APP): Two persons lost their lives and
another received severe injuries after fire erupted at Islamabad’s
six storey Awami Markaz here early Sunday morning.
According to hospital sources, one person, Ali Raza died after
he jumped off the building and could not survive his injuries.
While other victim, Waqar died because of suffocation due to
intense flames and heat caused by severe blaze in the building that
started around 8 am.
Third victim, Umer Ejaz was taken to Burns Unit of Pakistan
Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) where he was being treated for
his injuries.
According to rescue officials the victims were staffers at a
call centre located inside the building.
In the morning, the fire fighters had extinguished the fire
reportedly caused by short circuiting at one of the floors
of the building.
The officials said firefighters managed to control the fire
within an hour. Several fire tenders, sky lifts and water bowsers
took part in the operation to douse the flames.
However, later in the day, the fire erupted again and started
to spread to different floors and even threatened the safety of
nearby sensitive government buildings located in the capital’s Red
Zone.
The second eruption of fire was caused by strong winds that
blew in Islamabad during the day along with a bout of heavy rain.
Later in the day, fire Tenders of Pakistan Navy also arrived
at the site to take part in the operation to stop the fire from
spreading.
Reportedly, record and equipment of offices of Federal Tax
Ombudsman and Software Technology Park was burnt in the deadly fire.
Despite all the long day efforts, the fire gutted the whole
building which could collapse due to the damage done to it.
Islamabad administration had formed a four member committee
led by Deputy Commissioner to report causes of the incident in three
days.