RAWALPINDI: Chairman Disaster Management Cell General Farooq said that five persons were killed, 50 others injured and 11 were missing due to collapse of fire gutted Ghakhar plaza here on Saturday evening. The bodies of four victims were recovered from the debris and all injured have been shifted to hospital.

He said, the investigation to ascertain the actual cause of fire eruption have been started. The injured were rushed to Cantonment, District Headquarter (DHQ) and Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH).

He added that all markets and shopping plazas in Saddar had also been closed while WAPDA suspended power supply to avoid any untoward incident and telephone lines in the area were also disturbed for hours.

The police cordoned off the whole area for protection of public. The six-storied Gakhar Plaza had more than 450 shops and almost 400 stalls and kiosks and was the biggest center of garments, shoes, leather garments and goods. The upper stories of the building have a big store of CDs, godowns of garments besides a hotel.

All shops were turned into ashes. Soon after the collapse of the plaza, officers and Jawans of Pakistan Army, led by Station Commander Brig Sajjad Azam, reached at the site along with heavy machinery and started rescue work. The citizens also joined hands with army jawans to help remove the wreckage.