Over 500 motorcycles, a bus, two rickshaws and six to seven cars kept at a central vehicle pool, commonly known as Nazarat, were reduced to ashes as the bushes near Karachi’s Aziz Bhatti Park caught fire.
Established in 1992, the centralised vehicles pool helps people locate their recovered vehicles in one place instead of visiting different police stations. Unclaimed vehicles or those which have been impounded due to a lack of registration documents are given to officers on superdari (custodianship).
A statement issued by the Aziz Bhatti police station said that officials and the fire brigade were present at the scene, while the latter was working on extinguishing the flames.
The statement added that no casualties had been reported and further investigation was under way.
Later, a fire brigade control room official, who did not want to be named, told Dawn.com that six fire tenders managed to bring the blaze under control. He said two fire tenders were still at the scene to carry out cooling work.
The fireman said that the old vehicles had been parked without any proper care or supervision, adding that bushes and shrubbery surrounded the area. He said that the exact cause of the fire had yet to be ascertained.
Officials have yet to put a number on the number of vehicles damaged in the fire.
According to Radio Pakistan, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah took notice of the fire and ordered Karachi Commissioner Mohammed Iqbal Memon to submit a detailed report on the incident and the damages caused by it.
