Shoe factory fire kills more than 20 in Pakistan’s Lahore: official
Pakistani rescue workers carry an elderly survivor on a stretcher during continued search for victims from the debris of a collapsed building in Lahore on February 7, 2012. Pakistani rescuers on February 7 plucked survivors from the rubble of a collapsed factory in Lahore, where another 10 people are still buried under the debris and the death toll rose to 19. The three-storey building used to manufacture veterinary medicines caved in from a probable boiler and a gas cylinder explosion at the premises in the congested Multan Road area of Pakistan’s second largest city on February 6. AFP PHOTO / ARIF ALI
A huge fire in a shoe factory in eastern Pakistan today killed over 20 people, a police officer told the Associated Press.
Pakistan's Express News said people may still be inside the burning building, which has reportedly been surrounded by a dozen fire engines.
Local policeman Multan Khan told AP that the fire has so far killed 21 people and injured six at the Lahore factory.
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It was not immediately clear what caused the fire, but Pakistan's Frontier Post and Khan said a large amount of chemicals kept in the factory may have been set off by a spark from the electric generator.
Over 100 people worked at the factory, which was equipped with only one entrance/exit, according to Express News.
The large fire has reportedly burned cars parked outside the building.
Safety measures in factories in Pakistan are frequently lacking, with tragic results.
The collapse of a Lahore factory in February killed 13 people, according to BBC News.
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