Hundreds die in Pakistan factory fires
The servant of the Lord suffers for his service, we learn from this Sunday’s first reading. Factory workers in impoverished Pakistan suffer in dangerous, exploitative conditions to try to make a living. Early Wednesday over 300 workers lost their lives in fires in textile and shoe factories . . .
The servant of the Lord suffers for his service, we learn from this Sunday’s first reading. Factory workers in impoverished Pakistan suffer in dangerous, exploitative conditions to try to make a living. Early Wednesday, over 300 workers lost their lives in fires in textile and shoe factories. Many were trapped behind locked doors, raising questions about the woeful lack of regulation in a vital sector of Pakistan’s faltering economy.
The textile factory fire, which killed at least 285 workers, was the worst industrial accident in Pakistan’s history, officials said, and it came just hours after another fire at a shoe factory in the eastern city of Lahore had killed over 20 workers.
Flames and smoke swept through the cramped textile factory in Baldia Town, a northwestern industrial suburb, creating panic among the hundreds of poorly paid workers who had been making undergarments and plastic tools. They had few options of escape—every exit but one had been locked, officials said, and the windows were mostly barred.
In desperation some flung themselves from the top floors of the four-story building, sustaining serious injuries or worse, witnesses said. But many others failed to make it that far, trapped by an inferno that advanced mercilessly through a building that officials later described as a death trap.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan called on the government to mount an immediate investigation. “The head of the firefighting operations in Karachi has noted that the factory was dangerous, flimsily built, and had no emergency exits,” said Zohra Yusuf, chairwoman of the rights group. “Why did all of that escape official attention earlier?”
Workplace safety is guaranteed under Pakistan’s constitution, but labor leaders say that government oversight has crumbled rapidly in recent years along with a general decline in governance.
The textile factory fire, which killed at least 285 workers, was the worst industrial accident in Pakistan’s history, officials said, and it came just hours after another fire at a shoe factory in the eastern city of Lahore had killed over 20 workers.
Flames and smoke swept through the cramped textile factory in Baldia Town, a northwestern industrial suburb, creating panic among the hundreds of poorly paid workers who had been making undergarments and plastic tools. They had few options of escape—every exit but one had been locked, officials said, and the windows were mostly barred.
In desperation some flung themselves from the top floors of the four-story building, sustaining serious injuries or worse, witnesses said. But many others failed to make it that far, trapped by an inferno that advanced mercilessly through a building that officials later described as a death trap.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan called on the government to mount an immediate investigation. “The head of the firefighting operations in Karachi has noted that the factory was dangerous, flimsily built, and had no emergency exits,” said Zohra Yusuf, chairwoman of the rights group. “Why did all of that escape official attention earlier?”
Workplace safety is guaranteed under Pakistan’s constitution, but labor leaders say that government oversight has crumbled rapidly in recent years along with a general decline in governance.
Sources: Articles by Zia Ur-Rehman, Declan Walsh, and Salman
Masood for the New York Times and Imtiaz Shah for Reuters