Pakistan's 9/11

On this day………….3 years ago, more than 280 people were killed in a fire at a clothing factory in Baldia Town, Karachi in what is believed to be the worst disaster of its kind in Pakistan’s history.

The Ali Enterprises factory exported clothes to Europe and the United States.  An inspection in 2007 had revealed deficiencies in fire precautions, but a few weeks before the blaze in 2012, the building passed a safety test.

But when fire raced through the factory, it was said that exit doors were locked and windows were covered with iron bars, trapping victims inside. It was reported that it took the fire brigade 75 minutes to reach the scene.

A judicial inquiry concluded that the fire was caused by an electrical fault, but then in February of this year came claims that the MQM, one of Karachi’s leading political parties, had been involved in starting it. Last month, it was reported that investigators had travelled to London to interview the factory’s owners.  

World's worst factory fire + London's worst post-war fire

The Sindh High Court in Pakistan has instructed the provincial government and other relevant parties to submit their reports on the Karachi clothing factory fire within the next week.    What was perhaps the worst factory fire in history killed at least 258 people on September 11.

There were about 400 people working at the Ali Enterprises factory when a boiler exploded and set alight chemicals stored in the building.    It is claimed that exit doors were locked and that windows were covered with iron bars.

Many of the victims died from suffocation, while some of those who managed to jump from upstairs windows survived, though often at the cost of fractured limbs.     Eventually rescue workers had to break down one of the walls to get access to the upper floors.

A few hours earlier, a fire had broken out in a shoe factory in Lahore  when sparks from a faulty generator set fire to chemicals.     At least 25 people were killed.

* London’s deadliest post-war fire - forgotten by many, but not by the Londonist website (or by me) http://londonist.com/2012/10/londons-forgotten-disasters-the-denmark-street-fire.php