Karachi Roof Collapse That Killed Six, Including Five Sisters: What Happened and Why Homes Keep Falling
On the night of 8 March 2025 the roof of a small house on the northern edge of Karachi came down on a sleeping family. Six people died, five of them sisters. This plain-English guide sets out what is known, why such collapses are so common in Karachi and what families can do to stay safe.
About this article: It was prepared with the help of AI tools from public sources and is being reviewed by our editors. If you spot an error, please let us know so that we can correct it.
⚡ The short answer
Late on Saturday, 8 March 2025, the roof of an old single-storey house in the Afghan Basti area of Gulshan-e-Maymar, on Karachi’s northern outskirts, collapsed while the family slept. Six people were killed. Five were sisters. Others were pulled out injured. Police and rescue workers said building material, sand and gravel for repairs, had been piled on a roof too weak to bear it. Nobody is known to have been held responsible. It was one small entry in a long list: in Karachi, houses and apartment blocks fall down several times a year, and the dead are almost always poor.
- ✅ When: the night of 8 March 2025
- ✅ Where: near Janjal Goth, Gulshan-e-Maymar, Karachi
- ⚠️ Six dead, five of them sisters; reports differ on other details
- ⚠️ Apparent cause: repair material loaded on to an old roof
What happened
The house stood in a settlement on the northern edge of the city. It had one floor. By the police account it was old and in bad condition.
The roof was being repaired. For that purpose a load of sand and gravel had been carried up and left on top of it. One rescue official is reported to have said that an entire lorry-load had been put there.
On Saturday night the family and, by some accounts, visiting relatives went to sleep in the room below. Some time before eleven o’clock the roof gave way.
By the time the rescue service’s vehicles arrived, the service said, the victims had already been taken to hospital. Six were pronounced dead.
A roof that has stood for thirty years looks as though it will stand for ever. It gives no warning that the next load is the one it cannot carry.
What the reports disagree on
Early news reports of any disaster conflict, and this one was no exception. A careful reader should know where.
| Question | One account | Another account |
|---|---|---|
| Who died | Five sisters and one other woman | Six girls, aged between three and 15 |
| Were they residents | They lived in the house | They were guests visiting an uncle |
| Where the family was from | Afghan refugees | From Bannu, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and not refugees |
| The name of the locality | Janjal Goth | Jinjal Goth |
These differences do not change what happened. They matter because the dead were real people whose story deserves to be told correctly, and because one of the labels, “Afghan”, carried weight in a month when the government was pressing Afghans to leave the country. This article does not repeat any version as fact.
Why the roof fell
To a structural engineer, the cause as reported is depressingly ordinary.
How such roofs are made
Most small houses in Karachi’s poorer districts are roofed in one of three ways.
| Type of roof | How it is made | Its weakness |
|---|---|---|
| Girder and tile | Steel beams laid across the walls, with clay tiles or concrete slabs resting between them, topped with earth and plaster | The steel rusts in sea air; tiles crack; the walls beneath carry everything |
| Thin concrete slab | Concrete poured over a little steel, often mixed by hand | Too little steel, poor concrete, salty water and sand |
| Corrugated sheet | Metal or cement sheets on timber | Cannot carry any load at all |
Such a roof is built to hold itself up, a little rainwater and perhaps a person walking across it. Nothing more.
What a load of gravel weighs
A cubic metre of gravel weighs about a tonne and a half. A small lorry carries several. Heaped in one spot on an ageing roof, that is the weight of two or three cars resting on a structure never meant to bear one.
Why people do it anyway
There is nowhere else to put it. Lanes are a metre or two wide. Leave sand in the street and it is stolen or washed away. The roof is the only flat, private space a family has. Builders stack materials there as a matter of routine, and most of the time nothing happens.
💡 Tip: the load a roof can carry is not a matter of opinion
Every roof has a limit, set by its span, its materials and its age. No one can judge it by eye. Before any repair or extension, ask who has checked that the roof and the walls beneath can take the weight of materials, workers and water tanks. If the answer is “it has always been fine”, that is not a check. Store sand, gravel, bricks and cement at ground level, and carry up only what will be used that day.
The bigger picture: why Karachi’s buildings fall
This collapse was small. Others have been far worse. The pattern is the same.
| When | Where | What |
|---|---|---|
| March 2020 | Gulbahar | An apartment block fell on to its neighbours; more than twenty died |
| June 2020 | Lyari | A multi-storey block collapsed; more than twenty died |
| March 2025 | Gulshan-e-Maymar | The house in this article; six died |
| July 2025 | Lyari | A five-storey block collapsed; more than twenty died. It had been declared dangerous years earlier |
Five reasons
1. Half the city built itself. Around half of Karachi’s people live in settlements that grew without plans, permits or engineers. Houses are raised one room and one floor at a time, as money allows, by local masons.
2. The old city is crumbling. In the central districts stand hundreds of apartment blocks, some a century old. The building authority has listed several hundred as dangerous. Families stay, because the rent is low and they have nowhere else to go.
3. Extra floors. A block approved for two storeys acquires a third, a fourth and a fifth. The foundations were designed for two.
4. Bad materials. Salty groundwater, beach sand and too little steel produce concrete that rots from within.
5. Enforcement. The Sindh Building Control Authority is meant to approve plans, inspect sites and act against dangerous structures. After every major collapse officials are suspended and inquiries announced. Convictions are rare. Residents and builders alike say approvals can be bought.
Who is responsible in law
| Person | Possible responsibility |
|---|---|
| The owner | For keeping the building safe and for unauthorised work |
| The builder or contractor | For how the work was done |
| The building authority | For approving, inspecting and enforcing |
| The landlord, where there are tenants | For repairs |
In a case like the one in March 2025, the owner and the victims were, by most accounts, the same family or close relatives. A prosecution would mean charging the bereaved. That is one reason such cases are quietly closed.
⚠️ An eviction notice is not a solution
After each disaster the authorities issue notices ordering people out of dangerous buildings, and sometimes send police to clear them. Families ask the obvious question: to where? Without somewhere affordable to move to, most return within days. Declaring a building dangerous protects officials from blame. It protects residents only if it comes with a place to live.
The people who live in such houses
The settlement where this happened is one of several on Karachi’s northern fringe that grew up from the 1980s onwards, first around camps for Afghans fleeing war and then with migrants from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the former tribal areas who came to the city for work. Over forty years the tents became mud houses and the mud houses became concrete-block ones.
Several things follow from that history.
- No title. Much of the land was never formally allotted. Families cannot get a lease, and so cannot get an approved building plan, a bank loan or, often, a legal utility connection.
- No reason to build well. A family that may be moved on does not spend its savings on foundations. It adds a room when a son marries and patches the roof when it leaks.
- No engineer. The work is done by a neighbourhood mason, who builds as he was taught and has never seen a design calculation.
- Crowding. Large families and visiting relatives sleep many to a room, on the floor. When a roof falls at night, it falls on everyone.
None of this is unique to one community. The same is true of the fishing villages on the coast, the hill settlements of the west and the lanes of the old city. It is simply how the poorer half of Karachi is housed.
What the law says, and where it stops
On paper, Karachi has a full set of rules.
- A provincial building law dating from 1979 requires approval for any construction and gives the building authority power to seal, demolish or prosecute.
- Building and town-planning regulations set out how thick a wall must be, how much steel a slab needs and how many floors a plot may carry.
- A separate authority exists to survey informal settlements and grant leases to those that qualify, after which the ordinary rules apply.
In practice the system has a hole in the middle. The building authority’s inspectors work where plans are submitted, which means the planned parts of the city. In settlements with no leases, no plans are submitted, so there is nothing to inspect. A house like the one in this story was, as far as the law was concerned, invisible until it fell.
After a collapse: compensation and help
Families who lose relatives in such accidents are often unsure what they may claim. The position is roughly this.
| Source | What usually happens |
|---|---|
| The provincial government | After a major collapse the chief minister commonly announces a fixed sum for the family of each person killed and a smaller sum for the injured. It is a discretionary gesture, not a legal right, and is far less likely after a small incident |
| The district administration | Receives applications and verifies them; payment can take months |
| Insurance | Almost never. Informal houses are not insured |
| Charities | The city’s large welfare organisations provide ambulances, burial and, sometimes, food and temporary shelter |
| The courts | A family may sue an owner, builder or public body for negligence. Such cases are rare and slow |
Whether the family in this case received anything was not found.
Warning signs
No list replaces an inspection by a qualified engineer. But these signs, in any home, are reasons to act quickly.
| Sign | What it may mean |
|---|---|
| New cracks, or old cracks growing wider | Movement in walls or foundations |
| Cracks running diagonally from the corners of doors and windows | A wall under strain |
| A sagging ceiling, or one that holds water | The roof is deflecting under load |
| Rust stains or flaking concrete with steel showing | The reinforcement is corroding |
| Doors and windows that suddenly stick | The frame of the building is shifting |
| Cracking or popping sounds | Failure may be near; leave at once |
| Dust or small pieces falling from the ceiling | The same |
What families can do
Before building or repairing
- Have an engineer, or at least an experienced supervisor, look at the roof and walls before work begins.
- Keep materials on the ground. Carry up small quantities.
- Do not add a floor or a water tank without checking what is beneath.
- Do not let people sleep under a roof that is being worked on or loaded.
- Prop the roof from below during repairs.
In the monsoon
- Clear drains on the roof so water does not pond. Standing water is heavy.
- Check for new damp patches and cracks after heavy rain.
If you fear a collapse
- Get everyone out first. Belongings can wait.
- Warn the neighbours. Walls are often shared.
- Call the rescue service.
- Do not go back in to look.
If a collapse happens
- Call for help at once and give a clear address and landmark.
- Do not pull at large pieces of debris; they may be holding up others.
- Listen for voices. Mark where they come from for the rescuers.
- Keep the lane clear for ambulances.
| Service | Number |
|---|---|
| Rescue service | 1122 |
| Police emergency | 15 |
| Edhi ambulance | 115 |
| Chhipa ambulance | 1020 |
What would reduce the toll
The remedies are well known to anyone who has studied the city.
| Measure | Why it would help |
|---|---|
| Free or cheap inspections in low-income areas | Families cannot afford an engineer |
| Training and certifying local masons | They build most of the city |
| Rehousing before eviction from dangerous blocks | Otherwise people return |
| Publishing the list of dangerous buildings, street by street | Tenants often do not know |
| Prosecuting those who approve or build illegal floors | Deterrence is absent |
| Small loans or grants for roof repairs | A sound roof costs less than a funeral |
| Simple, pictorial guidance on loads | Most builders have never seen a design code |
Some of these exist on paper. After the collapse in the old city in July 2025, the provincial government announced a survey of dangerous buildings and promised help for those moved out. How far that went was not established for this article.
Why a small story deserves a long look
Six deaths in a lane on the edge of Karachi made the news for a day. No minister resigned. No inquiry reported. The world moved on within the week, to cricket, to politics, to war.
That is exactly why it is worth returning to. The great disasters draw cameras and promises. Most people who die under falling roofs in Pakistan die like this: a few at a time, at night, in a house no engineer ever saw, for the want of a place to stack a load of gravel.
There is a further reason. Nobody counts them. Pakistan keeps no public register of deaths from collapsing houses. The figures that exist are put together by rescue charities and newspapers from their own records, and they miss the villages altogether. A danger that is not counted is not budgeted for. A minister can be asked how many people died in road accidents or of dengue last year. He cannot be asked how many died under their own roofs, because no one has the number. Collecting it would cost very little and would be the first step to doing something about it.
✅ Key point
Nobody in this story set out to harm anyone. A family was mending its roof. The danger was invisible to them, as it is to millions of others living under roofs just like it. Blame, where there is any, lies less with them than with a city that leaves half its people to build without help, inspection or advice, and counts the dead afterwards.
Words used in this article
| Term | Plain meaning |
|---|---|
| Goth | A village; many old villages are now neighbourhoods inside Karachi |
| Basti | A settlement, often an informal one |
| Girder | A steel beam |
| Slab | A flat concrete roof or floor |
| Load | The weight a structure has to carry |
| Reinforcement | The steel bars inside concrete |
| Building control authority | The public body that approves and inspects buildings |
| Dangerous building | One officially declared unsafe to live in |
| Katchi abadi | An unplanned settlement |
Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 8 March 2025, evening | Sand and gravel are on the roof for repairs |
| About 11pm | The rescue service receives the call; the victims are taken to hospital |
| That night | Six are pronounced dead at hospital |
| 9 and 10 March 2025 | Press reports; the chief minister sends condolences |
| After that | No inquiry or follow-up found |
| July 2025 | A far larger collapse in the old city renews the debate |
For how provincial governments, which are responsible for building control, are run, read our guide to Pakistan’s politics.
Understand who is responsible for what
PoliticsPK explains who is who, how the system works and what changes, without the noise.
More in Politics Explained Politics Explained Latest from PoliticsPK
Frequently asked questions
❓ What happened in the Karachi roof collapse of March 2025?
On the night of 8 March 2025 the roof of a single-storey house in the Afghan Basti area of Gulshan-e-Maymar collapsed on people sleeping below. Six died and several were injured.
❓ Who were the victims?
Most reports say five of the six were sisters. Reports differ on the sixth victim, on the ages and on whether they were residents or guests. This article does not name them.
❓ What caused it?
According to police and rescue officials quoted in the press, sand and gravel had been placed on the roof for repairs, and the old roof could not bear the weight.
❓ Was anyone held responsible?
No report of an inquiry or a prosecution was found.
❓ Why do buildings collapse so often in Karachi?
Because much of the city was built without engineers or permits, old buildings are not maintained, extra floors are added illegally, materials are poor and enforcement is weak.
❓ Who is responsible for building safety in Karachi?
The Sindh Building Control Authority approves plans and is meant to act against unsafe structures. Owners and builders are responsible for the work they do.
❓ Is it safe to store building material on a roof?
Generally not. Sand, gravel, bricks and cement are very heavy. Keep them at ground level and carry up only what is needed.
❓ What are the warning signs of a roof about to fail?
New or widening cracks, a sagging ceiling, rust stains or exposed steel, falling dust and cracking sounds. If you notice the last two, leave immediately.
❓ Whom should I call in an emergency in Karachi?
The rescue service on 1122, the police on 15, or a charity ambulance service. Check that these numbers are current.
Sources
- Pakistan Today, “Five sisters among 6 killed in Karachi’s roof collapse incident” — 10 March 2025.
- Aaj English, “Six, including three girls, killed as roof collapses in Karachi’s Gulshan-e-Maymar” — 9 March 2025.
- Geo News, “Six members of Bannu family perish in Karachi house roof collapse” — March 2025.
- Daily Pakistan, “Six of a family die in Karachi roof collapse” — 9 March 2025.
- Sindh Building Control Authority — for the list of dangerous buildings and complaints.
