Yaxel Lendeborg boosts No. 3 Michigan to rivalry win over Ohio State

Yaxel Lendeborg scored 18 points and had nine rebounds when No. 3 Michigan pulled away for a 74-62 victory over Ohio State in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Friday.

Field Level Media

The Wolverines (18-1, 8-1 Big Ten) trailed by six in the second half and led just 52-51 with eight minutes left but dominated from there for their fourth straight win.

Trey McKenney scored 12 for Michigan, as did Morez Johnson Jr., who made 6 of 6 shots. Aday Mara chipped in with 11 points and four blocks.

John Mobley Jr. had 22 points for the Buckeyes (13-6, 5-4 Big Ten) and Christoph Tilly added 17 while team leading scorer Bruce Thornton (20.7 average) had 10.

Elliot Cadeau's 3-pointer for his first points of the game with 7:52 to play gave the Wolverines a 55-51 lead. A pair of free throws by Mara and a second-chance 3-pointer from Cadeau made it 60-51.

Later, an emphatic dunk by Mara and a layup through the gut of the defense by Lendeborg on the break extended the lead to 66-56 with 4:52 left. That was part of a 9-0 run that pushed the margin to 71-56.

After Ohio State went up 40-34 early in the second half, the Wolverines reeled off 11 straight points for a 45-40 lead before Amare Bynum hit a 3-pointer from the top of the arc.

Advertisement

Earlier, Michigan overcame a six-point deficit with a 19-10 run to end the half to take a 33-30 lead.

It was tied at 30 with 45 seconds left when Mara made the first of two free throws. He missed the second but Lendeborg grabbed the rebound and L.J Cason scored on a goaltending call for the three-point margin.

The Wolverines at halftime raised the No. 3 jersey of 2013 national player of the year Trey Burke in the rafters, the sixth jersey to receive the honor.

The timing was no coincidence. Burke played at Columbus Northland High School, about 15 minutes from the Ohio State campus.

Donovan "Puff" Johnson had no points in five minutes in his Ohio State debut. The 25-year-old sixth-year forward received a temporary restraining order against the NCAA on Jan. 16 allowing him eligibility to play for the Buckeyes this season.

He had previously been denied a medical hardship waiver after missing 54 games in his career at Penn State and North Carolina.

--Field Level Media

Yaxel Lendeborg boosts No. 3 Michigan to rivalry win over Ohio State

Yaxel Lendeborg scored 18 points and had nine rebounds when No. 3 Michigan pulled away for a 74-62 victory over Ohio S...
Giannis Antetokounmpo (calf) expects to miss at least month

One of the hottest topics in the NBA is whether the Milwaukee Bucks will deal Giannis Antetokounmpo ahead of the Feb. 5 trade deadline.

Field Level Media

The asking price for the superstar could be affected by the right calf injury that Antetokounmpo sustained in the Bucks' Friday game against the visiting Denver Nuggets.

Antetokounmpo is headed for an MRI on Saturday, but he believes he will miss four to six weeks of action.

"After the MRI, they will tell me, probably, I popped something in my calf on my soleus or something," Antetokounmpo said. "... This is from my experience being around the NBA.

"After that, I'm going to work my butt off to come back. That will probably be the end of February, beginning of March. Hopefully the team plays (well enough) that we can at least make the play-in or the playoffs. Just take it day by day, get better."

Antetokounmpo got hurt in the first quarter on Friday, exited briefly and came back to play a total of 32 minutes, compiling team-high totals of 22 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists.

Advertisement

However, Antetokounmpo left the game for good with 34.2 seconds remaining after he came up limping in transition. The Bucks trailed the Nuggets 99-94 at the time and wound up losing 102-100.

"I was feeling it majority of the game but did not want to stop playing," Antetokounmpo said. "But at the end, I could not move no more, so I had to stop."

Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers said of allowing Antetokounmpo to continue playing after the first-quarter issue, "I asked our (medical) team five different times. I didn't like what my eyes were seeing, personally. Giannis was defiant about staying in."

Antetokounmpo, 31, is averaging 28.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 5.6 assists through 30 games this season.

A nine-time All-Star, two-time Most Valuable Player and a 2021 NBA champion, Antetokounmpo owns career averages of 24.0 points, 9.9 rebounds and 5.0 assists in 889 games over 13 seasons.

--Field Level Media

Giannis Antetokounmpo (calf) expects to miss at least month

One of the hottest topics in the NBA is whether the Milwaukee Bucks will deal Giannis Antetokounmpo ahead of the Feb. ...
Blades Brown, 18, shoots historic round in PGA Tour's American Express

LA QUINTA, CA — All the talk of playing in the Bahamas and private flights across the country and late-night fast-food runs faded under the brilliance of a Southern California day and the talent ofBlades Brownon Friday, Jan. 23.

USA TODAY Sports

Brown, who made his professional debut at 17 years old last year atThe American Express, fired a 12-under 60 on the Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West in the second round of the PGA Tour event at the La Quinta Country Club. It was thelowest round in the PGA Tour by an 18-year-old since 1983.

Brown, seeking an historic 59, parred the final three holes including a 7-foot putt on his final hole that rolled agonizingly wide right.

"I saw my spot just a little before the hole. I got a great read off David Ford," Brown said of his final putt for 59. "He dripped it in there and it went right dead center. So I was thinking, okay, maybe just a little outside right edge. Unfortunately, it didn't break, but it's all right. I'm not worried about it."

As he watched his putt sail right, Brown looked to the heavens in disappointment as a large gallery groaned, obviously aware of the moment and wanting to be a part of history. But the smile returned to his face moments later after tapping in his par, for a course record and stamping himself as a rising star in the sport.

LEADERBOARD:Full results from The American Express

Blades Brown reacts to his final putt after narrowly missing a birdie putt for a 59 score on the ninth green of the Nicklaus Tournament Course during the second round of The American Express in La Quinta, Calif., Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.

"I just really like this golf course. There's something about the Nicklaus Course that I just really like," said Brown, who shot 64 on the course in 2025 including a run of six consecutive birdies. "Like, it's so money. It's so pure. Everything is just perfectly well-kempt. I love playing with no wind. So when you put all those things together it's fun."

He was bidding for the 16th sub-60 round in PGA Tour history and the third ever shot at the desert's PGA event.

Brown, a member of the Korn Ferry Tour and in the field this week on a sponsor's exemption, shares the 36-hole lead in the tournament at 17-under, with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. Scheffler, playing four groups ahead of Brown, fired a 64 on the Nicklaus course. Si Woo Kim fired a 65 on the Pete Dye Stadium Course, the toughest of the three courses in the rotation, and is alone in third at 16 under.

Brown wasn't the only player to make it to the 18th hole with a shot at a 59 on Friday. Andrew Putnam, playing at La Quinta Country Club, had a 30-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole, but missed and had to settle for a fantastic 12-under 60 to tie the course record.

Blades Brown watches his tee shot from two on the Nicklaus Tournament Course during the second round of The American Express in La Quinta, Calif., Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.

Brown began his day on the 10th hole at the Nicklaus course and birdied the first hole, followed by an eagle on the par-5 11th. Brown then made five consecutive birdies to reach 8 under through seven holes before making three consecutive pars.

But starting on the second hole on the front nine (his back), Brown regained his torrid scoring touch, with four birdies in his next five holes to get to 12 under for the day. He managed just a par on the par-5 seventh hole, then missed makeable birdie putts on the eighth and ninth hole which would've given him a magical 59.

Advertisement

Brown or Putnam would've been the third golfer shoot 59 at The American Express. David Duval shot the number in the final round of the 1999 tournament on the Palmer Course at PGA West to win the tournament. Adam Hadwin shot 59 in the third round of the 2017 event at La Quinta Country Club, but Hadwin ended up second that week behind Hudson Swafford.

Brown's fantastic round comes just two days after he finish play in the Korn Ferry Tour event in the Bahamas, where Brown finished tied for 17th. Brown took a private jet for six hours to get to the Southern California desert late Wednesday night, hit fast-foot restaurant Panda Express, went to a grocery store and then went to sleep before his 9:58 a.m. tee time Thursday. Brown shot 5-under 67 at La Quinta Country Club to open the event.

Putnam's round at La Quinta Country Clubs starter slower than Brown's with just one birdie in his first three holes. But Putnam, 36 and with one PGA Tour victory, rattled off six consecutive birdies and capped that run with an eagle on the par-5 11th to get to 9-under for the day. He added two birdies at 13 and 14 and another at 17 to reach 12 under before making the long two-putt for a par on the 18th hole.

Blades Brown reacts to a narrowly missed putt on the ninth green, crumbling his shot at scoring a 59, on the Nicklaus Tournament Course during the second round of The American Express in La Quinta, Calif., Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.

The 60 moved Putnam to 12 under for the tournament, tied for 18th in a week where low scoring seems to be at a record pace. The two 60s even overshadowed Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world who cruised to a 64 for his second consecutive bogey-free round in his first tournament of the year. One of the players to have shot 59 in an event back in 2020, Scheffler said he wouldn't have been too surprised had the day produced two 59s.

"The courses are in good shape, you've got good weather conditions, I think that's a recipe for some low scores when you got guys with the amount of talent that we have out here on tour," Scheffler said. "I think when you get those two things together you're going to see some low scores."

Both Scheffler and Brown will move to the Stadium Course for the third round Saturday. Brown was in contention to make the cut in the 2025 American Express but a third-round 74 on the Stadium Course moved him outside of the cut line in his pro debut.

"(Saturday) obviously the Stadium Course is the more difficult of the three golf courses," Brown said. "I haven't played it yet (this year), so I'm just going to go see where I can hit it down the fairway, hit it on the green, and try to make a putt."

The idea of a Sunday final group including Scheffler and Brown is tantalizing. Scheffler says he only knows a little bit of Brown's story and does not know Brown personally.

"These kids coming out, they know they got to come out and make some birdies. I think when you're coming out young you don't have as much scar tissue as the guys that are a little bit more seasoned, and you just come out, and if you want to make a name for yourself you got to put up some good scores," Scheffler said. "It sounds like an 18-year-old shooting 59 is a pretty good start to his career there."

Brown said he'd love the chance to play with the world's No. 1.

"I think that would be awesome, yeah. Scottie is an unbelievable golfer," Brown said. "I'd try to learn from him as much as I can the way he plays the golf course. There's a lot of strategy in his game, and he's obviously an unbelievable ball-striker. So it's really cool watching him play some golf."

The 15 sub-60 rounds in PGA history

  • Jake Knapp (59): 2025 Cognizant Classic (Round 1)

  • Hayden Springs (59): 2024 John Deere Classic (Round 1)

  • Cameron Young (59): 2024 Travelers Championship (Round 3)

  • Scottie Scheffler (59): 2020 The Northern Trust (Round 2)

  • Kevin Chappell (59): 2019 Military Tribute at the Greenbrier (Round 2)

  • Brandt Snedeker (59): 2018 Wyndam Championship (Round 1)

  • Adam Hadwin (59): 2017 Career Builder Challenge (Round 3)

  • Justin Thomas (59): 2017 Sony Open (Round 1)

  • Jim Furyk (58): 2016 Travelers Championship (Round 2)

  • Jim Furyk (59): 2013 BMW Championship (Round 2)

  • Stuart Appleby (59): 2010 Greenbrier Classic (Round 4)

  • Paul Goydos (59): 2010 John Deere Classic (Round 1)

  • David Duval (59): 1999 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic (Round 4)

  • Chip Beck (59): 1991 Las Vegas Invitational (Round 3)

  • Al Geiberger (59): 1977 Memphis Classic (Round 2)

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun:Blades Brown shoots 60 in Round 2 of American Express PGA Tour event

Blades Brown, 18, shoots historic round in PGA Tour's American Express

LA QUINTA, CA — All the talk of playing in the Bahamas and private flights across the country and late-night fast-food ru...
James' shootout goal lifts Lightning over Blackhawks

CHICAGO (AP) — Dominic James scored in the fifth round of a shootout and the Tampa Bay Lightning made it 15 straight games without a regulation loss, outlasting the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 on Friday night.

Tampa Bay is on a 14-0-1 tear, winning three straight after a shootout loss a week ago in St. Louis. The Lighting are 32-13-4 overall.

Nikita Kucherov tied it at 1 late in the second period with his 25th goal of the season and also scored in the shootout. Gage Goncalves scored in the fourth round of the tiebreaker to keep Tampa Bay alive and, after Oliver Moore failed for Chicago, James slipped the winner past Arvid Soderblom.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 17 shots for Tampa Bay.

Ryan Greene scored for Chicago, and Soderblom made 30 saves. Chicago had won two straight, beating Carolina 4-3 in shootout Friday night in Raleigh.

Andre Burakovsky nearly ended it for Chicago in overtime, but couldn't get the puck in at the side of that net as it slid across the crease.

Tampa Bay outshot Chicago 13-2 in the second period and had a 21-6 overall advantage through 40 minutes. Both teams were 0 for 3 on the power play.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS 6, MAPLE LEAFS 3

TORONTO (AP) — Mark Stone had two goals and an assist and Vegas beat the Maple Leafs inMitch Marner's emotional returnto Toronto.

Jack Eichel Pavel Dorofeyev, Braeden Bowman and Keegan Kolesar also scored for Vegas. Adin Hill made 18 saves, and Ivan Barbashev had three assists.

Marner, who played nine seasons with the Maple Leafs before his long march out the door ended last summer, was booed every time he touched the puck.

John Tavares, Scott Laughton and Bobby McMann scored for Toronto. Anthony Stolarz stopped 25 shots in his return from an upper-body injury.

Playing in the second of a back-to-back, Vegas won for the first time in three contests following a seven-game winning streak, including a 6-5 overtime victory over the Maple Leafs last week.

Toronto has dropped three in a row and five of six.

STARS 3, BLUES 2

DALLAS (AP) — Jason Robertson scored his 30th goal of the season with one minute to play to lift Dallas to a victory over St. Louis.

Robertson lifted the puck in from the right circle four seconds after Roope Hintz won a faceoff for the Stars, who have won two of their last three games following a three-game losing streak.

Wyatt Johnston and Matt Duchene scored power-play goals for the Stars, and Johnston also had an assist. Jake Oettinger made 20 saves.

Robertson is tied with Edmonton's Connor McDavid for second in the NHL in goals scored.

Pavel Buchnevich had a goal and an assist and rookie Dalibor Dvorsky also scored for the Blues, who have lost eight consecutive road games, all in regulation, and are a league worst 7-15-3 away from home. Jordan Binnington stopped 16 shots, his record at Dallas dropping to 1-5-3.

FLYERS 7, AVALANCHE 3

DENVER (AP) — Owen Tippett had his second career hat trick and Philadelphia handed NHL-leading Colorado its fourth loss in five games.

Tippett opened the scoring in the first and struck twice in the third. He also had an assist. Matvei Michkov had two goals and an assist, Denver Barkey and Bobby Brink also scored and Samuel Ersson made 32 saves.

Philadelphia finished 2-0-1 on a three-game trip and spoiled the 25th reunion of Colorado's 2001 Stanley Cup championship squad.

The Avalanche had 15 players from the title team on hand, including team president Joe Sakic, Ray Bourque, Peter Forsberg and Rob Blake. They watched Colorado suffer just its second home regulation loss of the season and finish 3-3-1 on its longest homestand of the season.

Tippett gave the Flyers a 4-3 lead 56 seconds into the third period. Just 1:04 later, Michkov deflected Emile Andrae's shot over Mackenzie Blackwood's shoulder. Tippett scored on a short-handed breakaway with 9:36 left to push his season goals total to 18.

Cale Makar, Parker Kelly and Victor Olofsson scored for Colorado, and Nathan MacKinnon had two assists to retake the NHL scoring lead with 87 points.

CAPITALS 3, FLAMES 1

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Hendrix Lapierre ended a 90-game goal drought, Alex Ovechkin had an empty-netter and Washington beat Calgary to end a four-game losing streak.

Aliaksei Protas also scored and Logan Thompson made 25 saves against his hometown town.

Morgan Frost scored for Calgary, and Devin Cooley stopped 35 shots. In the third, Cooley denied defenseman Jacob Chychrun's lacrosse-style wraparound attempt on a power play.

Protas broke a tie at 7:35 of the third. When Cooley slid to his left to defend against Tom Wilson, a rebound squirted out to the Belarusian, who fired the puck into an open net.

Lapierre tied it at 1 at 6:33 of the second. John Carlson's shot deflected off the leg of Yan Kuznetsov and onto Lapierre's stick for the 23-year-old's first goal since March 18, 2024, which also happened to be against Calgary. He has 10 career goals,

Calgary countered a Washington short-handed, odd-man rush with a power-play goal on the Flames' next trip down the ice. Frost bear Thompson with a wrist shot below the goalie's outstretched stick at 6:09 of the first.

DUCKS 4, KRAKEN 2

SEATTLE (AP) — Cutter Gauthier had a goal and an assist, Lukas Dostal made 21 saves and Anaheim beat Seattle for its sixth straight victory following a nine-game losing streak.

Ryan Poehling scored short-handed, Chris Kreider added a power-play goal and Pavel Mintyukov banked in a long empty-netter. The Ducks have three games left on a five-game trip they opened with a 2-1 shootout victory at NHL-leading Colorado on Wednesday night.

Jared McCann and Jaden Schwartz scored for Seattle in the third game of a six-game homestand. Philipp Grubauer stopped 27 shots, highlighted by a successful poke-check on Jansen Harkins' penalty shot midway through the second.

Gauthier and Poehling gave Anaheim a 2-0 lead in the first period, with the Ducks outshooting the Kraken 13-2 in the opening 20 minutes.

SHARKS 3, RANGERS 1

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Macklin Celebrini had two goals to end his longest drought of the season, pacing San Jose to a win over New York.

Celebrini's 25th and 26th goals of the season were his first since Jan. 7, a six-game stretch.

The No. 1 overall pick in 2024, Celebrini had a chance for his third hat trick of the season but his shot in the third period was stopped by Rangers goalie Martin Spencer and the puck rolled slowly to the side of the net.

Pavol Regenda added his eighth goal for the Sharks while Will Smith and Collin Graf each had two assists. Alex Nedeljkovic made 28 saves.

Sam Carrick had his second goal in six games for New York, which lost its third straight and is now 2-8-1 over its last 11 games.

DEVILS 5, CANUCKS 4

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Cody Glass had two goals and an assist, Lenni Hameenaho scored his first NHL goal and New Jersey beat Vancouver to extend its Western Canada winning streak to three.

Nico Hischier and Connor Brown also scored for New Jersey. Jacob Markstrom made 21 saves.

Linus Karlsson, Teddy Blueger, Zeev Buium and Brock Boeser scored for Vancouver, and Kevin Lankinen stopped 19 shots.

New Jersey went 2 for 3 on the power play. The Canucks were 0 for 2 and have gone four games without a power-play goal.

Hameenaho scored on a goalmouth tap-in at 1:41 of the first.

In the second, Hischier and Glass made it 3-0 with goals 40 seconds apart. Six minutes later, Karlsson put the Canucks on the board.

Then with Conor Garland serving a double-minor for high-sticking Hischier, Blueger scored short-handed before Brown replied.

With 1:48 left in the second, Buium pulled the puck out of a crowd and found the net to cut it to 4-3.

In the third, Glass added his second of the night. Boeser scored with 1:12 remaining and Lankinen off for an extra attacker.

James' shootout goal lifts Lightning over Blackhawks

CHICAGO (AP) — Dominic James scored in the fifth round of a shootout and the Tampa Bay Lightning made it 15 straight game...
Celebrini scores twice, Sharks beat Rangers 3-1

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Macklin Celebrini had two goals to end his longest drought of the season, pacing the San Jose Sharks to a 3-1 win over the New York Rangers on Friday night.

Celebrini's 25th and 26th goals of the season were his first since Jan. 7, a six-game stretch.

The No. 1 overall pick in 2024, Celebrini had a chance for his third hat trick of the season but his shot in the third period was stopped by Rangers goalie Martin Spencer and the puck rolled slowly to the side of the net.

Pavol Regenda added his eighth goal for the Sharks while Will Smith and Collin Graf each had two assists. Alex Nedeljkovic made 28 saves.

Sam Carrick had his second goal in six games for New York, which lost its third straight and is now 2-8-1 over its last 11 games.

Celebrini got the Sharks on the board quickly with a power-play goal 1:09 into the first period. Celebrini got positioned in front of the Islanders net and scored off a quick pass from Tyler Toffoli.

San Jose added a second power-play goal less than two minutes later when Regenda flipped a backhand shot that went over Martin's left shoulder. Michael Misa and Graf assisted.

Celebrini scored his second goal of the night at the 7:37 mark in the first period. Chants of "MVP MVP" for the 19-year-old broke out moments later.

Carrick's goal was his third of the season for the Rangers. Taylor Raddysh and Anton Blidh assisted. Martin finished with 28 saves.

Ranger: Play the Canucks on Tuesday night.

Sharks: Host the Bruins on Monday night.

AP NHL:https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Celebrini scores twice, Sharks beat Rangers 3-1

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Macklin Celebrini had two goals to end his longest drought of the season, pacing the San Jose Sha...
TheStewartofNY/FilmMagic; Bella Hadid/Instagram Bella Hadid cutout dress

TheStewartofNY/FilmMagic; Bella Hadid/Instagram

NEED TO KNOW

  • Bella Hadid wore a daring dress with a plunging back and cutouts at the rear

  • Hadid shared photos in the dress in an Instagram post on Friday, Jan. 23 alongside her stylist Mimi Cuttrell

  • The model recently attended the red carpet premiere of Ryan Murphy's The Beauty, in which she stars as Ruby

Bella Hadidis taking the cutout trend to daring new heights.

Hadid, 29, is seen wearing a butt-baring dress consisting of cutouts at the rear and a plunging back in anInstagrampost on Friday, Jan. 23. The Orebella founder paired the daring look with a lace masquerade mask, a thick silver cuff bracelet and emerald-cut diamond earrings.

Hadid wore the naked dress, with her long hair in effortlessly tousled waves, to a card game-themed dinner party.

Hadid's carousel post also featured photos of a table decked out in playing cards, disco balls, and lights. One photo showcased a martini glass filled with pearls and coins, along with a queen of hearts playing card. In another photo, Hadid shows off a massive bejeweled flower ring. The last slide featured a bottle of her perfume, Orebella.

The model's stylist Mimi Cuttrell also posed for a photo alongside Hadid, and shared it on her ownInstagram, simply tagging Hadid in the caption.

View this post on Instagram

Bella Hadid/Instagram Bella Hadid cutout dress

Bella Hadid/Instagram

The outing comes shortly after Hadid walked the red carpet at the premiere of FX and Hulu'sThe Beauty,in which she will soon star as Ruby. At the premiere of the new Ryan Murphy show, Hadid toldPEOPLEexclusively that the cast, includingAshton Kutcher,Anthony RamosandJeremy Pope, offered their support even while filming scenes separately.

"They were able to just tell me a lot of words of wisdom and explain to me that even being crazy and weird is still positive," Hadid told PEOPLE on the red carpet on Jan. 18. "And sometimes things are embarrassing and at the end of the day, it's not embarrassing."

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE's free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

"We're all able to be different versions of ourselves and that's what was most important for me on this set," she added.

The Beautypremiered on Wednesday, Jan. 21 on FX.

Read the original article onPeople

Bella Hadid Takes the Cutout Trend to the Next Level in Butt-Baring Naked Dress

TheStewartofNY/FilmMagic; Bella Hadid/Instagram NEED TO KNOW Bella Hadid wore a daring dress with a plunging back and cutouts at the rear...
Karachi mall inferno came after ignored warnings, delayed response

By Ariba Shahid

KARACHI, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Muhammad Imran did not take the fire seriously at first, thinking it was another small spark at the Karachi mall that would be quickly extinguished by fellow shop owners.

But smoke seeped through ducts and blackened the air in seconds. The lights went out soon after and phone flashlights turned useless, people could no longer see their own hands, he said.

Imran, who has diabetes and ​has undergone heart surgery, managed only a few steps before nearly giving up. "It felt like doomsday," he said. "You couldn't see the person next to you."

The blaze would rage for nearly two days and reduce Gul Plaza, a multi-storey ‌complex of 1,200 family-run shops selling children's clothes, toys, crockery and household goods, to ash.

At least 67 people were killed, with 15 still missing and feared dead, police official Asad Ali Raza said, in the January 17 blaze, the Pakistani port city's largest in over a decade.

Imran's escape from the inferno, along ‌with more than a dozen others who spoke to Reuters, was hampered by locked doors, poor ventilation, and crowded corridors. When they eventually got out, the survivors watched Gul Plaza crumble as rescue efforts faced delays and poor resources.

Police said the fire appeared to have started at an artificial flower shop and may have been caused by children playing with matches. They added that all but three of the 16 exits were locked, which was routine practice after 10 p.m.

Documents reviewed by Reuters showed Gul Plaza, located on a major artery in Karachi's historic city centre and built in the early 1980s, had violated building regulatory standards for over a decade, with authorities warning the situation was dire in the last review two years ago.

Gul Plaza's management did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

LONG PAPER TRAIL

Records ⁠from the provincial Sindh Building Control Authority showed court cases filed over Gul Plaza's lack ‌of safety compliance in 1992, 2015 and 2021, as well as records of unauthorised construction.

The files reviewed by Reuters do not detail the outcomes of those cases, including whether fines were imposed or whether violations were fully remedied. SBCA did not respond to queries on enforcement action taken.

A Nov. 27, 2023, survey by the fire department, covering more than 40 commercial buildings in the area, cited ‍inadequate firefighting equipment, blocked escape routes, faulty alarms, poor emergency lighting and a lack of fire safety training for occupants and staff.

A follow-up audit by the fire department in January 2024 placed Gul Plaza among buildings that failed to meet regulations, with inspectors marking key safety categories, including access to firefighting equipment, alarm systems and electrical wiring conditions, as "unsatisfactory".

Separately, documents describing inspections by Karachi's Urban Search and Rescue teams in late 2023 and early 2024 that were reviewed by Reuters also showed Gul Plaza was among several markets and commercial buildings flagged for deficiencies in one ​or more fire safety categories.

'PEOPLE WERE PANICKING'

"Young boys were crying. People were panicking," Imran said, when they were confronted by locked exits.

Others smashed doors and locks as they moved through the darkness, holding hands and forming human chains to avoid getting ‌lost.

With no way down, they ran to the roof, where 70 people, including families and children, were trapped for nearly an hour, survivors said. The smoke was even worse there, funnelled upward by the building's design, making it impossible to see even the neighbouring buildings.

Then the wind changed.

A sudden gust pushed the smoke aside, revealing Rimpa Plaza next door. Young men crossed first, found a broken ladder and began ferrying people across one by one.

"I was the last to leave. I wanted to make sure everyone was safe," Imran said. An ambulance from the Edhi Foundation charity was waiting on the other side.

WATCHED IT BURN

Many survivors said the response by the fire brigade was delayed and inadequate. Imran and other shop owners said they had escaped from the building and watched Gul Plaza turn into a molten inferno as the first firefighters arrived.

The first emergency call came at 10:26 p.m. from a teenager, with two fire vehicles reaching the site within 10 minutes and classifying the blaze as a Grade 3 fire, "the ⁠highest category for an urban area", said a provincial government spokesperson Sukhdev Assardas Hemnani.

A citywide emergency was declared by 10:45 p.m., triggering the mobilisation ​of resources from across Karachi, he said.

Shopkeepers said the first engine soon ran out of water and left to refill but Hemnani said those allegations were ​inaccurate.

Firefighters used "water, foam, chemicals and sand", he said, adding the blaze was difficult to control because the building contained more than 50 gas cylinders and flammable material such as perfumes, generator fuel and car batteries.

Many of the shops were stocked to the brim because of the holy month of Ramadan in February-March, Pakistan's biggest shopping season.

The first fire truck was not delayed, Hemnani said, but later arrivals were ‍slowed by heavy traffic on a busy Saturday night and a ⁠crowd of over 3,000 people that had gathered outside the mall.

The fire department did not respond to requests for comment.

'NO LONGER AMONG US'

Survivors said many of the missing were shop employees and traders who tried to help others escape — or went back inside looking for family members.

Abdul Ghaffar, a toy store employee who had worked in Gul Plaza for two decades, said one of his cousins was among those still unaccounted for after helping others flee.

His cousin's mobile ⁠phone voice message, in which he can be heard apologising to his family, was circulated widely on social media.

"He was helping people escape," Ghaffar said. "That's how he died." Three other relatives remain missing, he said, with the family still waiting for identification through DNA testing.

Several shopkeepers said the losses have scarred ‌the market's tightly knit community.

"All of this keeps replaying in front of my eyes. People we saw daily are no longer among us. God was kind to us — our lives were saved — but I still cannot ‌understand what kind of fire this was," said Imran.

(Reporting by Ariba Shahid in Karachi; Editing by Saad Sayeed and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Karachi mall inferno came after ignored warnings, delayed response

By Ariba Shahid KARACHI, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Muhammad Imran did not take the fire seriously at first, thinking it...

 

COSMO NEWS © 2015 | Distributed By My Blogger Themes | Designed By Templateism.com