KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Thick black smoke clawed at the sky last week over the industrial zone in Pakistan's largest city as firefighter Syeda Masooma Zaidi raced toward the raging blaze in Karachi.
The storage facility was packed with truck and car tires, and the flames leapt hungrily, black plumes twisting skyward. Heat shimmered off the asphalt, turning the air heavy and acrid, stinging her eyes and lungs.
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Female firefighter Syeda Masooma Zaidi, center, prepares with her team members to attend a routine training session, at the compound of their office in Karachi, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
Female firefighter Syeda Masooma Zaidi, right back, arrives with her team members to attend a routine training session, at the compound of their office in Karachi, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
Female firefighter Syeda Masooma Zaidi sprays water to extinguish on a fire broke out in a storage facility packed vehicles tires, outskirts of Karachi, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
Female firefighter Syeda Masooma Zaidi, right, with her team member spray water to extinguish on a fire broke out in a storage facility packed vehicles tires, outskirts of Karachi, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
**EDITORS NOTE: ADVANCE PHOTO ISL501-516, PLEASE HOLD THEM FOR THE RELEASE OF A FEATURE STORY SLUG: 'PAKISTAN WOMEN FIREFIGHTERS' BY MUNIR AHMED ** Female firefighter Syeda Masooma Zaidi, right, with her team member spray water to extinguish on a fire broke out in a storage facility packed vehicles tires, outskirts of Karachi, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
Zaidi did not hesitate amid the deafening roar, hose in hand, her helmet strapped tight.
The 23-year-old and the rest of her firefighting team — all men — aimed the jets of water at the molten rubber, which hissed and steamed under the torrent. The team worked methodically, every movement precise, every second critical.
Hours later, the blaze was under control. Nearby factories were spared, no lives were lost — though the damage ran into tens of thousands of dollars (millions of Pakistani rupees).
When the firefighters emerged from the smoke, their faces streaked with soot, dozens of onlookers cheered behind safety lines.
Zaidi is a rare sight in a country where women firefighters were mostly unheard-of until 2024. Her career — like those of other women in Pakistan’s emergency services — underscores the gradual inroads being made in the staunchly patriarchal and traditional Islamic nation.
Some were inspired when Shazia Perveen became Pakistan's very first woman firefighter in 2010 in eastern Punjab province, where she is now a trainer. In Sindh province, where Karachi is the capital, women started joining firefighting services in 2024 after getting their training in Punjab.
And though they still make up less than 1% of Pakistan's firefighters, authorities say more women are likely to join firefighting units in the coming years in the country of 255 million.
Most Pakistani women who go into professional fields choose careers as doctors, engineers or teachers, Zaidi said. She wanted to show that “we can do this too.”
Her chief fire officer, Humayun Khan, has praised Zaidi and her female colleagues.
Dr. Abid Jalaluddin Shaikh, chief of the Sindh Emergency Service, said Zaidi is one of 50 women firefighters in the province. Another 180 are in training as rescue divers, ambulance medics and emergency responders.
“The focus is no longer on breaking taboos," he said. “Now we see real results.”
Zaidi graduated from the Punjab Rescue Service Academy, where she mastered high-angle rescues that use ladders, ropes and trolleys and typically involve victims trapped in skyscrapers, industrial towers or other high elevations, as well as various types of fire and water emergencies.
Still, she says she feels many doubt her ability on the job.
“When we arrive, people say, ‘She’s a girl — how can she rescue anyone?’” she said. “Every time we save a life, we prove that women can also do this job.”
Zaidi's fellow firefighter Areeba Taj, also 23, recalled missions in Karachi where she and her female colleagues helped save lives amid chaos and smoke. Their supervisor, Ayesha Farooq, highlighted the unique strengths women bring, especially when victims include women and children.
“By joining rescue services, they earn respect — for themselves, and for the country,” Farooq said.
Zaidi, who grew up with seven brothers and one sister, says her motivation was simple: courage, duty, and faith.
“People still doubt us,” she said. “But every time we go out there, we keep proving them wrong.”
As the skyline above the Karachi industrial zone cleared last week, Zaidi returned with her team to the fire station, ready for the next alarm.
Every day on the job, Zaidi, Taj and their other female colleagues prove that gender is no barrier to bravery.
Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writers Abdul Sattar in Quetta, Babar Dogar in Lahore and Riaz Khan in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this report.
Female firefighter Syeda Masooma Zaidi, center, prepares with her team members to attend a routine training session, at the compound of their office in Karachi, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
Female firefighter Syeda Masooma Zaidi, right back, arrives with her team members to attend a routine training session, at the compound of their office in Karachi, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
Female firefighter Syeda Masooma Zaidi sprays water to extinguish on a fire broke out in a storage facility packed vehicles tires, outskirts of Karachi, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
Female firefighter Syeda Masooma Zaidi, right, with her team member spray water to extinguish on a fire broke out in a storage facility packed vehicles tires, outskirts of Karachi, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
**EDITORS NOTE: ADVANCE PHOTO ISL501-516, PLEASE HOLD THEM FOR THE RELEASE OF A FEATURE STORY SLUG: 'PAKISTAN WOMEN FIREFIGHTERS' BY MUNIR AHMED ** Female firefighter Syeda Masooma Zaidi, right, with her team member spray water to extinguish on a fire broke out in a storage facility packed vehicles tires, outskirts of Karachi, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
One of soccer’s historic powers has reached a once-unfathomable low.
Four-time champion Italy failed to qualify for a third straight World Cup after getting beat in a penalty shootout with 10 men at 66th-ranked Bosnia and Herzegovina in the European playoffs on Tuesday.
Moise Kean scored early on for Italy but then Azzurri center back Alessandro Bastoni was sent off with a direct red card before the break and Bosnia substitute Haris Tabakovic equalized in the 79th to send the game into extra time.
The defeat added more misery for Italy’s once-proud national team after being eliminated by Sweden and North Macedonia, respectively, in the qualifying playoffs for the last two World Cups.
Bosnia won the shootout 4-1 and qualified for the first time since 2014 — its only previous appearance.
In the shootout, Pio Esposito and Bryan Cristante missed their spot kicks and U.S.-born Esmir Bajraktarevic converted the decisive penalty for Bosnia.
“We still don’t believe it — that we’re out and that it happened in this manner,” Italy defender Leonardo Spinazzola said. “It’s upsetting for everyone. For us, for our families, and for all the kids who have never seen Italy at a World Cup.”
In Tuesday’s other European playoff finals, Sweden, Turkey and the Czech Republic each qualified. Sweden beat Poland 3-2; Turkey beat Kosovo 1-0; and the Czechs won in a shootout.
Italy's latest ouster means that the 1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006 champions will go at least 16 years without even playing a match at soccer’s biggest event.
Italy’s World Cup struggles go back all the way to 2010 and 2014, having failed to advance from its group on both occasions. Although the Azzurri did win the European Championship in 2021.
Italy’s last World Cup knockout match was when it won the title in 2006 by beating France in a penalty shootout.
The only other World Cup that Italy did not qualify for was in 1958.
An entire generation — basically anyone under 15 — has no memory of the last time Italy played in the World Cup: An elimination loss to Uruguay in 2014 in Brazil remembered for Luis Suarez’s bite of Giorgio Chiellini’s shoulder.
None of Italy’s current players have participated in a World Cup finals.
The defeat will raise questions about the status of Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso, who took over from the fired Luciano Spalletti in June with the squad already in crisis mode following a defeat at Norway in its opening qualifier.
The Azzurri then went on a six-match winning streak before losing again to Norway in November to finish second in their group and end up in the playoffs again.
Gattuso’s Italy overcame a nervy scoreless first half to beat Northern Ireland 2-0 at home in last week’s playoff semifinals. But the Azzurri struggled even more against Bosnia inside the intimate but imposing 14,000-seat Bilino Polje Stadium in Zenica, which is surrounded by apartment towers overlooking the field.
“I want to personally apologize since we didn’t make it,” Gattuso said. “Today talking about my future is not important. Today it was important to get to the World Cup.”
On paper, it was a massive mismatch between 12th-ranked Italy and Bosnia, which is ranked 54 places below the Azzurri by FIFA.
Italy has a population of nearly 60 million. Bosnia’s is about 3.5 million.
The combined club salaries of Italy’s players total nearly 1 billion euros ($1 million). Bosnia’s total is a seventh of that.
Viktor Gyokeres has sent Sweden back to the World Cup.
The Arsenal striker scored in the 88th minute to earn the Swedes a 3-2 win over Poland, five days after netting a hat trick in the playoff semifinal victory over Ukraine.
Poland great Robert Lewandowski, at age 37, was hoping to qualify for what would likely have been his final World Cup.
Former Chelsea and West Ham coach Graham Potter was hired by Sweden last year — initially on a short-term deal — with one goal: to get the team to the World Cup. He has succeeded.
Sweden reached the quarterfinals in its last World Cup appearance, in 2018.
Turkey will be in the United States’ group at the World Cup after winning 1-0 at Kosovo to reach soccer’s biggest stage for the first time since 2002.
The hosts were hoping to qualify for the World Cup for the first time, fewer than 10 years since the national team was out of the international soccer family.
It was in May 2016 that Kosovo and Gibraltar were voted into FIFA as its 210th and 211th member federations. That was eight years after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia.
Kosovo had the best chance of an entertaining first half but Turkey goalkeeper Uğurcan Çakır pulled off a superb one-handed save to push Fisnik Asllani’s strike onto the crossbar.
Turkey got the breakthrough eight minutes into the second half. Kerem Aktürkoğlu got finest of touches to ensure Orkun Kökçü’s cross-shot went into the far bottom corner.
Turkey joins the U.S. in Group D, along with Paraguay and Australia.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Italy's Pio Esposito reacts during the World Cup qualifying playoff final soccer match between Bosnia and Italy in Zenica, Bosnia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)
Italy players react during a penalty shootout during the World Cup qualifying playoff final soccer match between Bosnia and Italy in Zenica, Bosnia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
Bosnian fans celebrate after Haris Tabakovic scored his side's first goal during the World Cup qualifying playoff final soccer match between Bosnia and Italy in Zenica, Bosnia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
Bosnia's Ermedin Demirovic celebrates after Bosnia's Haris Tabakovic scored his side's first goal during the World Cup qualifying playoff final soccer match between Bosnia and Italy in Zenica, Bosnia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
Italy's Francesco Pio Esposito reacts during the World Cup qualifying playoff final soccer match between Bosnia and Italy in Zenica, Bosnia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
Turkey's players celebrate after winning the World Cup qualifying playoff final soccer match between Kosovo and Turkey in Pristina, Kosovo, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)
Poland's Przemyslaw Wisniewski, left, and Sweden's Viktor Gyokeres during a World Cup qualifying playoff final soccer match between Sweden and Poland in Stockholm, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (Jonas Ekstromer/TT via AP)
Bosnia supporters light flares as they watch from an apartment building just outside the stadium during the World Cup qualifying playoff final soccer match between Bosnia and Italy in Zenica, Bosnia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)
Italy's Moise Kean, center, celebrates with teammates after scoring his side's opening goal during the World Cup qualifying playoff final soccer match between Bosnia and Italy in Zenica, Bosnia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
Bosnia's Ermedin Demirovic celebrates after Bosnia's Haris Tabakovic scored his side's first goal during the World Cup qualifying playoff final soccer match between Bosnia and Italy in Zenica, Bosnia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
Italy's coach Gennaro Gattuso directs his team during the World Cup qualifying playoff final soccer match between Bosnia and Italy in Zenica, Bosnia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)
Referee Clement Turpin shows a red card to Italy's Alessandro Bastoni (21) during the World Cup qualifying playoff final soccer match between Bosnia and Italy in Zenica, Bosnia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. . (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)
Italy's head coach Gennaro Gattuso walks on the pitch ahead of Tuesday's World Cup playoff final soccer match against Bosnia, at the Bilino Polje stadium, in Zenica, Bosnia, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
From left to right, Italy's Matteo Politano, Leonardo Spinazzola, and Manuel Locatelli walk on the pitch ahead of Tuesday's World Cup playoff final soccer match against Bosnia, at the Bilino Polje stadium, in Zenica, Bosnia, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
Bosnia's captain Edin Dzeko gestures during the training session ahead of the World Cup playoff final soccer match against Italy, at the Butmir training centre, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
Italy's Marco Palestra, right, walks on the pitch ahead of Tuesday's World Cup playoff final soccer match against Bosnia, at the Bilino Polje stadium, in Zenica, Bosnia, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
Italy's head coach Gennaro Gattuso listens to the questions of journalists during the press conference ahead of the World Cup playoff final soccer match against Bosnia in Zenica, Bosnia, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
