KARACHI (AFP)
The death toll from a mall fire in Pakistan's biggest city rose to at least 55 people, a Karachi government official told AFP on Thursday.
"A total of 55 bodies have been recovered since Saturday night" when the fire erupted, said Javed Nabi Khoso, deputy commissioner of Karachi's south district.
More than 50 families have given DNA samples, provincial health official Summaiya Syed told journalists on Wednesday.
"We will hand over the bodies (remains) to the family, once DNA samples are matched," she said outside the Civil Hospital Karachi mortuary.
Faraz Ali, whose father and 26-year-old brother were inside the mall, told AFP he wants "the bodies to be recovered and handed over to their rightful families".
"That is all so that the families may receive something, some comfort, some peace.
A government committee has launched an investigation, but the cause of the inferno was not immediately clear.