ISLAMABAD, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- A huge fire that broke out in a garments factory in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi on Tuesday evening has been put out after nearly 11 hours of hard efforts by fire fighters, announced Ehtishamuddin, Chief Fire Officer of Karachi, on Wednesday.
The fire erupted at about 6:00 p.m. local time in a garments factory building located in the Baldia Town area of west Karachi. Up till now, a total of 112 people have reportedly been killed in the fire.
Rescue workers believe that there are still som bodies trapped inside the badly burnt four-storeyed concrete factory building.
The building, after being burnt for more than 11 hours, could collapse at any moment, said rescue workers, adding that this could slow down the progress of the rescue work.
Local Urgu TV channel Geo said by quoting hospital sources that out of the 112 bodies recovered from the fire, 71 were shifted to Civil Hospital, 36 to Jinnah Hospital and five to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.
A number of women were also reportedly killed in the fire. There were an unknown number of women working inside the stitching section of the factory when the fire broke out, said survivors.
According to survivors, Tuesday was a payment day and hundreds of workers came to the factory to collect their salary. When the fire broke out, many rushed out, but there were still some 150 people trapped inside the building, they said.
The mangement of the factory forced workers to move out the goods instead of saving their lives, claimed some survivors.
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