Lahore: Shoe Factory Inferno Kills 25, Including Owner

LAHORE: At least 25 people died after a fire broke out in shoe sole making factory here on Tuesday, Geo News reported.

The owner of the factory and his young son were also among those killed.

A full shift of 45 was at work when the fire engulfed the factory located in a narrow-street slum on Band Road near Gulshan-e-Ravi area.

Around ten fire tenders took an hour to extinguish the fire.

The inaccessible location of the factory made it extremely difficult for the firefighters to douse the flames and rescuers to get the dead and the injured out.

Rescuers hammered holes through the walls and broke the windows to enter the building to get the injured out, sources added.

DCO Lahore, talking to Geo News confirmed that an electric generator explosion set the chemicals and plastic granules on fire.

MS Mayo Hospital, Dr Zahid confirmed the deaths of 18 workers most of them owing to third-degree burns and the rest from inhaling poisonous fumes.

He added that the injured with first and second-degree burns were being treated in the burns ward, while minor surgeries had also been conducted to save the lives of some of the workers.

He later added that 21 dead bodies had been received by Mayo Hospital so far.

Three dead bodies of factory workers were also brought to the Munshi Hospital.

The owner of the factory, a man named Rajab Ali , who belonged to Multan also died in the blaze.

Sources told Geo News a young son of Rajab Ali also died in the incident as he along with his father was trapped with other workers and failed to get out of the factory.

Several cottage industries that operate out of residential houses are located in the Band Road area of Lahore.

Chief Minister Punjab, Mian Shahbaz Sharif, has announced an assistance of Rs500,000 each for those who died in the fire and Rs75,000 each for the injured.

An investigation committee has been formed to probe as to what caused the fire and why people were working in such unsafe conditions.