- Title: PAKISTAN: Thirty seven workers killed in factory fires in Pakistan.
- Date: 11th September 2012
- Summary: KARACHI, PAKISTAN (SEPTEMBER 11, 2012) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SCENES) WIDE OF FACTORY ON FIRE FIRE BLAZING INSIDE FACTORY VARIOUS OF FIRE FIRE ENGINES RELEASING WATER TO DOUSE FIRE CLOSE OF WATER BEING SPRAYED INTO FACTORY AMBULANCES AND FIRE ENGINES PARKED AT SITE OF FIRE WORKERS STRANDED ON ROOF OF FACTORY RESCUE WORKERS CLIMBING UPPER STOREY OF FACTORY PEOPLE LOOKING ON AT RESCUE OPERATIONS (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) SINDH MINISTER FOR HEALTH, DR. SAGHEER AHMED, SAYING: "Fourteen dead bodies were brought to the hospital. Eight have been identified; six are still not identified. Out of the 14 dead bodies, three are women. Twenty five are injured out of whom one is a woman." MORE OF RESCUE OPERATIONS AMBULANCES ARRIVING AT SITE OF FIRE (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) EYEWITNESS, MOHAMMAD ISHAQ, SAYING: "I was watching the stranded people. The fire was raging and people were falling (from the top floor). People who gathered there were trying their level best. They put up a ladder. Some people came down the ladder. Others fell." RELATIVES STANDING OUTSIDE CIVIL HOSPITAL RESCUE WORKERS CARRYING DEAD BODY ON STRETCHER INJURED INSIDE EMERGENCY WARD INJURED MAN ON BED RELATIVES CARRYING INJURED MAN ON STRETCHER RELATIVES CHECKING LIST OF VICTIMS
- Embargoed: 26th September 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Pakistan
- City:
- Country: Pakistan
- Topics: Disasters
- Reuters ID: LVAC84D0H7OR2AA9X7IEE904HAMM
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: At least 14 people are reported killed after a Karachi garment factory catches fire, the second deadly factory fire in the country hours after 23 workers were burnt to death in a shoe factory in the eastern city of Lahore.
At least fourteen people were burned to death and 25 badly injured in a fire in a garment factory in the port city of Karachi on Tuesday (September 11), a provincial minister said.
"Fourteen bodies were brought to the hospital. Eight have been identified; six are still not identified. Out of the 14 dead bodies, three are women. Twenty five are injured out of whom one is a woman," Dr. Sagheer Ahmed, Provincial Health Minister told reporters at the civil hospital where most of the victims were brought.
The fire completely gutted the first storey of the garment factory, and chief fire officer Ehtishamuddin Siddiqui told local media he feared the factory could collapse at any time.
Around 40 firefigthing vehicles were brought in to bring the raging blaze under control, Siddiqui told local media, labelling the fire a Category Three incident, the highest and most dangerous level.
Local resident Mohammad Ishaq who witnessed the blaze said some people fell from the top floor.
"I was watching the stranded people. The fire was raging and people were falling (from the top floor). People who gathered there were trying their level best. They put up a ladder. Some people came down the ladder. Others fell," Ishaq said.
Rescue officials said the death toll could rise as some people could still be trapped inside.
In a separate incident earlier in the day, twenty three workers were burnt to death in a shoe factory in the eastern city of Lahore, officials said, and the death toll was expected to rise.
It was not immediately clear what had caused the fires. Many Pakistani buildings have faulty wiring, and there's almost no enforcement of building codes.
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