Karachi chemical factory fire: Owner, manager booked after blaze kills 16 labourers

• Case registered against owner, manager, supervisors and watchman of Karachi chemical factory.
• Deadly blaze at factory in Korangi claimed lives of 16 labourers a day earlier, raising questions about industrial safety.
• Blazes and accidents are common in South Asia’s factories, many of which operate illegally and without proper fire safety measures.

KARACHI: A case has been registered against the owner, manager, supervisors and watchman of the chemical factory that caught fire a day earlier, killing 16 labourers in Karachi, Geo News reported Saturday.

Factory owner Ali Mehta, manager Imran Zaidi, two supervisors Zafar and Rehan and watchman Syed Zarin have been named in the FIR registered at the Korangi Industrial Area police station.

The case has been registered under Sections 34 and Section 322 for the deaths of the workers.

According to the FIR, there was no emergency exit in case of an unfortunate incident and there was only one way out of the facility.

The FIR stated that there was no alarm system in the factory either and that the janitor was asked to open the lock. The building was constructed in such a way that no one could get out in an emergency, the FIR said.

None of the people nominated in the FIR have been arrested so far.

The deadly blaze at a factory located in Korangi Industrial Area, Mehran Town in Karachi claimed the lives of 16 labourers a day earlier, raising questions about industrial safety.

The fire brigade spokesperson had declared the blaze a "third-degree" fire because of the toxic chemical inside the factory.

The fire broke out at a multi-storey chemical factory in eastern part of the city, and most windows of the factory were blocked, police and fire officials said.

Many factory workers died after being trapped on the second floor in the fire, which broke out on the ground floor of the three-storey factory.

Media footage showed thick grey smoke billowing out from the top floors of the factory.

“The factory had only one entry point, which was also being used as exit, and the roof exit was blocked, which badly hampered rescue efforts,” Mubeen Ahmed, chief fire officer of the fire department, had told Geo News.

Over 260 workers were burnt alive when a multi-storey garment factory was set on fire in September 2012 in what became the deadliest industrial blaze in Pakistan's history.

Blazes and accidents are common in South Asia’s factories, many of which operate illegally and without proper fire safety measures.