(11 Sep 2012) A deadly fire swept through a shoe factory in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on Tuesday, killing 25 people, a senior police officer said.
Three people were also injured in the blaze, he said.
Some suffocated from toxic fumes while others were burned alive when the flames ripped through chemicals used to make the shoes and stored in the building, he said.
The fire erupted when people in the building were trying to start their generator after the electricity went out.
Sparks from the generator made contact with the chemicals, igniting the blaze.
Pakistan faces widespread blackouts, and many people use generators to provide electricity for their houses or to run businesses.
The fire is likely to add to public outrage over the government's failure to provide sufficient power.
Firefighters broke holes in the solid brick walled buildings to reach victims inside.
Numan Noor, head of rescue operations at the plant, said victims could not escape the blaze due to exits being obstructed.
"The main reason for the victims' deaths mostly probably is because the front was blocked. The people went to the back side of the building, but there was no access, so we had to make a forceful entry and we breached the wall and then rescued the people," Noor said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf in a statement expressed his shock and grief over the deaths.
Many people in Lahore have set up shoe factories at homes and in residential areas.
Many of the factories are ill-equipped and often lack modern fire safety equipment such as fire extinguishers or sprinklers.News service and for libel, privacy, compliance and third party rights applicable to their Territory.
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