Nearly 100 people have been killed and 50 others injured, someof them who jumped out of windows to save their lives, in a deadly fire in athree-storey garment factory in Pakistan's financial hub Karachi.
The fire broke out on the second floor of the building inthe Baldia town area of the city last evening. Around 35 fire tenders withdozens of firefighters were still trying to control the blaze till the filingof this report.
"The fire has been brought under control to a largeextent but there are more people trapped inside the building right nowparticularly in the basement and we fear the building might also collapseeventually due to the damage caused by the fire," chief fire officerEhtishamuddin told PTI.
The officer said over 100 people, including five women, wereburnt to death and the toll is likely to rise.
He said the fire appeared to have been caused by shortcircuit due to the heavy rainfall but the real reason would only been knownonce the fire was brought under control.
"The casualties have occurred mainly because there wasone entry and exit point in the building. We had to use a snorkel to rescuepeople who had taken refuge on the roof of the building," he added.
The chief fire officer said there were bodies lying insidethe building which were being recovered but rescue operations were taking timedue to blaze and heat.
Senior police officer Aamir Farooqi said there is still lotof fire and smoke inside the building so it was unclear how many workers arestill trapped inside the building.
