AT least 191 people have been killed in a huge clothing factory fire in Karachi in Pakistan.
People jumped from the windows of the burning building as 40 fire engines were used to tackle the devastating blaze last night.
Fire chief Ehtisham-ud-Din said many of the victims died from smoke inhalation as people caught in the basement were unable to escape.
There were no fire exits and the doors leading out of the basement were locked, he said. It is possible the death toll could rise further because authorities suspect there may still be bodies in the basement.
Workers on higher floors of the five-storey building struggled to make it out of windows that were covered with metal bars. Many were injured when they jumped from the building, including a 27-year-old pregnant woman.
An injured worker, Mohammad Ilyas, speaking from hospital, said he was with roughly 50 other men and women when suddenly a fireball came from the staircase.
“I jumped from my seat as did others and rushed toward the windows, but iron bars on the windows barred us from escaping. Some of us quickly took tools and machines to break the iron bars. That was how we managed to jump out of the windows.”
A separate fire earlier in the day at a shoe factory 600 miles away in Lahore, started by a faulty generator, killed 23 people.
Firefighters were still tackling the Karachi blaze in the early hours today. Pakistan prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf expressed his shock and grief over the deaths in both cities.
