Reporting by: Sidra Dar
Claim: A store named “Thai Baby Shop” remained safe from the deadly Gul Plaza fire in Karachi. Some social media posts suggested it did not burn down because the store’s signage included religious inscriptions.
Fact: A visit to the store revealed that it did not remain safe; its owner told us his “entire shop burned down” and that “stock worth PKR 20 million” was destroyed.
Shortly after a deadly fire broke out at Gul Plaza Shopping Mall in January 2026, a bustling bazaar located off MA Jinnah Road, the main artery of Pakistan’s financial capital, Karachi, many social media users claimed that a shop remained safe as its signage included religious inscriptions.
Massive fire at Gul Plaza
A fire erupted on 17 January 2026 at the historic multi-storey Gul Plaza, which had approximately over 1,200 shops, media reports said, adding that the blaze could not be doused until over 24 hours had passed.
Authorities have not confirmed the death toll but officials — including rescue personnel, police, and local government leaders — quoted in news reports say at least two dozen bodies or their remains have been recovered.
Over 80 individuals remain missing, according to a list available with Soch Fact Check, while “dozens” were wounded at the business complex located off MA Jinnah Road, a main artery of Karachi.
Rescue 1122 spokesperson Hassaanul Haseeb Khan said, “The cause of the fire is still unknown.” A firefighter also lost his life while trying to douse the Gul Plaza blaze.
On the other hand, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah announced PKR 10 million as compensation for the family of each person who died in the blaze.
“I can’t say whose fault this is,” Shah said, but promised an inquiry, following which “heads will roll”. According to the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), he said the fire was reported after 10 pm but the “first fire tender reached the site at 10:27 pm”.
According to rescue officials, the front and back facades of the structure had collapsed. As the operation continued, relatives of some of the missing people waited outside the building hoping for news, The Associated Press (AP) reported, adding that Karachi “has a history of deadly fires, often blamed on poor safety standards and illegal construction”.
Journalist Mahim Maher wrote on X that as of data available until 2022, there have been at least 60 shopping mall fires in seven years in Karachi.
People in the area also chanted anti-government slogans, “protesting about the response time from the fire department”, as Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab visited the site, Reuters reported.
“Shopkeepers and residents told local media that a delayed response and shortages of water and equipment had hampered early firefighting efforts, fuelling anger among traders who said decades of livelihoods had been wiped out,” Al Jazeera reported.
Rescue efforts were hampered due to a lack of ventilation, BBC said, adding that according to Rescue 1122 spokesperson Khan, “the fire spread rapidly because of the presence of flammable materials such as plastic foam, cloth, and perfume in the building”.
Fact or Fiction?
Our colleagues at Soch Videos, a sister company of Soch Fact Check, visited the site of the Gul Plaza fire and found that the shop did not remain unaffected by the inferno.
Original footage from the site of the shop shows burned racks and other equipment. Smoke was blowing out of the outlet as firefighters pulled in a hose to put out any remaining flames.
In an interview, the shop owner, Mohammad Asif, said, “The problem is that everyone kept telling me that my shop was safe, that I should come see it, that I’m very lucky. But, when I opened the shutter yesterday, my entire shop had burned down.
“Flames reignited twice inside due to the wind. The whole shop is [down to] zero. The walls at the back and the sides have caved in and the roof, fans, lights, and AC all are zero [destroyed by the fire]. There was stock worth PKR 20 million, all of which is in ashes now,” he said.
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Our colleagues also observed the shop from the front and said most of what was inside had burned down; however, while the glass windows and door were intact, they showed signs of the fire.
Soch Fact Check, therefore, concludes that the claim is false.
Virality
We found that the claim gained significant traction on social media, with the clip and still images posted on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X (formerly Twitter), and TikTok.
The claim was shared here, here, here, here, and here on Instagram, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here on Facebook, and here, here, and here on Threads.
It was also shared here, here, here, here, and here on X, here, here, here, and here on YouTube, and here and here on TikTok.
Additionally, BOL News mentioned the same in a video report but did not include any visuals.
Conclusion: A visit to the store revealed that it did not remain safe; its owner told us his “entire shop burned down” and that “stock worth PKR 20 million” was destroyed.
Background image in cover photo: Soch Videos footage
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