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240 killed in factory fire in Karachi

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sazzy

Member
Full story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19566851

At least 246 people have died in a fire at a garment factory in Karachi, officials say, in one of Pakistan's worst ever industrial accidents.

Many others were injured in the inferno which raged for 15 hours overnight.

Hundreds were trapped inside - the building had metal grilles on the windows and no fire exits. Many workers jumped from the upper floors.

Some 40 firefighting vehicles were needed to tackle the blaze. Rescuers have spent the day recovering bodies.

There are reports of people trapped inside frantically ringing their friends and relatives as flames engulfed the building.

The fire broke out hours after another blaze at a shoe factory in Lahore killed at least 25 people.

Investigations have been announced into both fires. Reports say they may have been caused by faulty electricity generators.

Side-bar Analysis:

It is not just textile mills - industries across Pakistan are increasingly prone to disaster. Sometimes it is the collapse of poorly constructed premises - but fires remain the main danger.

In general, the problem is the same that plagues all matters of governance in Pakistan - enforcement of the law. Industrial standards are disregarded to minimise cost as inspectors are paid to look the other way.

Textile factories are particularly at risk because of the lethal combination of chemical dyes and stacks of cotton often stored next to each other - ensuring a deadly result.

Fire exits - as in the case of the factory in Karachi - exist only on paper, a factor in raising casualty figures. The city administration itself has a limited number of fire engines to serve the growing needs of an increasingly sprawling metropolis.

What is generally a small and controllable mistake is made worse by years of official disregard for workers' safety. That in turn produces such tragedies - which are then covered up, only to be repeated a few months later.

Someone needs to go to jail for this..
 
That is unbelievable. My prayers go to the families affected.

Hopefully, this calls for a nationwide reform of industrial building safety.

World's worst workplace fires

September 2012: At least 38 killed in a fire at a fireworks factory in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu
December 2011: Ninety people killed in a hospital fire in the Indian city of Calcutta
June 2010: More than 116 people killed in a fire which destroys shops and housing in Bangladesh
August 2004: A fire in a supermarket in Paraguay kills at least 364 people
December 2001: At least 280 people die in a fire in a shopping area of the Peruvian capital Lima
November 1993: More than 80 workers killed in a fire in a toy factory in southern China
May 1993: At least 188 people are killed in a fire at a Thai toy factory
March 1911: Fire in New York textile factory kills 146

Insane.
 
Just imagining what went down there, morning ruined :(

No fire exits? What in the hell, surely there are records of the inspectors that checked these factories over the years, lock away.
 

Nemo

Will Eat Your Children
Seeing the man crying for his son broke my heart. So many people

Hope they take some serious measures now
 

Azih

Member
Pakistan is corrupt in the worst way. That is to say the leaders of every national institution are corrupt (the politicians of course, but also the bereaucrats, the police, the judges, the millitary, the special forces, the media, the industrialists etc.) and that culture has seeped right down to the bottom. The Army is probably the least corrupt sad to say. Along with *some* of the media.

Politically speaking it's a stooge/thug culture now. On the stooge side middle class people in the middle and the bottom pick someone to be partisans of in the hope that they'll get some of the payoff and corruption crumbs when their political party gets their turn at political power. Thugs are kind of the same but they're street toughs in the employ of one party or another that enforce the strikes that parties call for.

The only way to fix a situation like this is either an iron fisted dictator to grab power from everyone else with the good of the people in mind (Like Singapore for example) or for the people to rise up and demand changes. The people however are largely mired in poverty, desperate to provide for themselves, and uneducated. More damningly they are divided amongst themselves with *every kind* of sectarian, cultural, linguistic, political divide you can imagine. Pathans don't trust Punjabis don't trush Muhajirs don't trust Punjabi speaking don't trust Urdu speaking don't trust Sindhi speaking don't trust Shia don't trust Ahmadi don't trust Sunnis etc etc etc etc.
 

Nemo

Will Eat Your Children
The only way to fix a situation like this is either an iron fisted dictator to grab power from everyone else with the good of the people in mind
I'd love for this to happen so bad man... There's not enough attention to all the tragedies that something will change (imagine if 240 died in this accident in any western world, how long would this thread be?) but the heart of one man fully in control could turn things around over there
 
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