--- description: At least 11 people were killed and 75 injured Monday when a fire broke out at the luxury Regent Plaza hotel in Karachi. title: Blaze at Top Hotel 'With No Fire Exits' in Pakistan Kills 11 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5cdec032d4e7771a/6988b0a1a988ca03a76ba5a2/gettyimages-627751750.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Pakistan](/tag/pakistan/) ## Pakistan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 11 Dead and Dozens Injured After an Early Morning Fire at a Luxury Hotel in Pakistan by [Feliz Solomon](/author/feliz-solomon/) ## Feliz Solomon Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 5, 2016 9:23 AM CUT  Guests gather outside the Regent Plaza Hotel following a fire in the building, located in Pakistan's port city of Karachi, on Dec. 5, 2016 Guests gather outside the Regent Plaza Hotel following a fire in the building, located in Pakistan's port city of Karachi, on Dec. 5, 2016Rizwan Tabassum—AFP / Getty Images by [Feliz Solomon](/author/feliz-solomon/) ## Feliz Solomon Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 5, 2016 9:23 AM CUT At least 11 people were killed and 75 injured Monday when a fire broke out at the Regent Plaza hotel in Karachi — Pakistan’s biggest city and the country’s commercial hub. Karachi’s mayor Waseem Akhtar told media that the hotel had [“no fire exits or fire alarms.”](http://www.dawn.com/news/1300614 "undefined") According to local English-language [_Dawn_ newspaper](http://www.dawn.com/news/1300614/11-killed-in-fire-at-karachis-regent-plaza-hotel "undefined"), Chief Fire Officer Tehseen Siddiqui said “No fire exits had been marked inside the hotel… the smoke detectors are there but they aren’t functioning. The \[hotel’s\] fire alarm also did not go off.” He added that suffocating smoke kept circulating within the building because staff could not be found to turn off the air-conditioning system. Guests could be seen climbing down from higher floors on knotted bedsheets in order to escape smoke-filled rooms, Dawn reported. The deaths were related to suffocation, Dr. Seemi Jamali, the head of the emergency room at a nearby hospital, [told CNN](http://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/05/asia/pakistan-karachi-hotel-fire/index.html "undefined"). _Dawn_ reported that the injured had suffered smoke inhalation, or had been hurt when jumping or attempting to climb down from rooms. Some had been hit by flying glass. Local reports say safety standards for Pakistani buildings are often low and accidents are common. A local fire department official that the blaze, which broke out at about 2:45 a.m., had been contained and the site was being investigated. The cause of the fire is still unclear. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4590150/pakistan-karachi-regent-plaza-hotel-fire/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4590150/pakistan-karachi-regent-plaza-hotel-fire/"},"headline":"11 Dead and Dozens Injured After an Early Morning Fire at a Luxury Hotel in Pakistan","datePublished":"2016-12-05T09:23:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:07:52.344Z","description":"The building reportedly had no fire exits or alarms","url":"https://time.com/4590150/pakistan-karachi-regent-plaza-hotel-fire/","keywords":["Pakistan"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5cdec032d4e7771a/6988b0a1a988ca03a76ba5a2/gettyimages-627751750.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Feliz Solomon","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/feliz-solomon/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5cdec032d4e7771a/6988b0a1a988ca03a76ba5a2/gettyimages-627751750.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"PAKISTAN-FIRE-HOTEL","caption":"PAKISTAN-FIRE-HOTEL","creditText":"Rizwan Tabassum—AFP / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/pakistan/","name":"Pakistan"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4590150/pakistan-karachi-regent-plaza-hotel-fire/","name":"11 Dead and Dozens Injured After an Early Morning Fire at a Luxury Hotel in Pakistan"}}]}] ```