Suffocation identified as main cause in Gul Plaza deaths

The police surgeon probing the Gul Plaza disaster has concluded that inhalational asphyxia, or suffocation, was the main cause of death in the blaze that killed at least 73 people in Karachi.

In a response submitted to the judicial commission investigating the fire, Dr Summaiya Syed said six complete bodies showed suffocation as the primary cause of death. She added that 66 other remains were severely burned and fragmented, making multiple injuries possible, though lethal fire-related suffocation was still identified as the principal cause.

The findings provide a clearer medical picture of the January tragedy, which destroyed more than 1,100 shops and left several people missing even after days of recovery operations. The report is expected to inform the wider inquiry into evacuation failures, entrapment and emergency response.