Islamabad – Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Muhammad Junaid Anwar Chaudhry has constituted an inquiry committee to investigate the cause of a fire at the Karachi International Container Terminal (KICT) and to fix responsibility to prevent similar incidents in the future.
The committee will be comprised of Senior Officers from KPT which will coordinate with KICT operators to determine the reasons for the incident.
“KICT is a private terminal and the primary responsibility for safety measures at the container terminal rests with its administration,” the minister said.
Following media reports of the fire, the minister took immediate notice of the incident and directed all concerned officials, including KPT Chairman Rear Admiral (Retd) Shahid Ahmed, for immediate response and utilisation of all available resources to bring the blaze under control and sought a detailed report on the incident.
The KPT Senior Team supervised the firefighting operation and the fire was brought under control and no loss of life was reported.
Junaid Chaudhry said the coordinated response of the Karachi Port Trust, Pakistan Navy, Rescue 1122 and Karachi Shipyard fire units helped avert major losses.
The minister also announced appreciation certificates for members of the KPT team involved in the firefighting operation, and particularly lauded the role of GM (Engineering) KPT Rear Admiral Kashif Munir and his team, for prompt action, professional handling and well coordinated response.
He added that the extent of financial losses and the exact cause of the fire were yet to be determined, and that investigations were ongoing.
Following the directions of the minister, the KPT submitted the report that include fire erupted at about 1:35 PM in a container near Berth Number 27 at KICT Terminal, Karachi Port, on West Wharf. The incident was reported to KPT Central Fire Brigade and immediately fire tenders were despatched to the scene of Fire. Upon arrival it was observed that the fire/ smoke was spreading quickly in the closely placed set of containers which were also placed on one another. Fire Tenders of KPT generated an effective response to contain the fire and meanwhile support was also requested from Pakistan Navy, Karachi Shipyard & Engineering Works and Rescue 1122 and all these agencies provided support through deployment of their fire tenders, the report added.
The report stated a total of eight fire tenders from KPT were deployed on-site, supported by 4 fire tenders from the Pakistan Navy, one from Karachi Shipyard & Engineering Works, and two fire tenders from Rescue 1122.
Through swift action, effective coordination, and professional handling by all responding teams, the fire was successfully brought under control, preventing its spread and ensuring the safety of port infrastructure and operations.
KPT Fire Brigade is continuously monitoring the scene of fire and its adjacent area as post fire precautionary measure to respond in case fire ignites again. Furthermore the cause of Fire is also being investigated, the report added.
Sohail Majeed is a Special Correspondent at The Diplomatic Insight. He has twelve plus years of experience in journalism & reporting. He covers International Affairs, Diplomacy, UN, Sports, Climate Change, Economy, Technology, and Health.
