GHAZIABAD, India : Thirteen workers died in a fire at a suspected illegal garment factory on the outskirts of the Indian capital early Friday as they slept in the workshop.
\nThe blaze started in the early hours of the morning on the ground floor of the narrow residential building, which was being used to make fake leather jackets, on the eastern edge of New Delhi.
\nResidents rushed to the factory after they heard screams from those trapped inside as the fire quickly spread to the first floor where most of the workers were sleeping, eyewitness Shahabudin Ali said.
\n“We started dousing the fire ourselves with buckets and garden pipes,” he said.
\n“The fire department officials reached only two hours after the fire.”
\nThe police confirmed that 13 people died, adding that the fire was likely caused either by a short circuit or a cigarette.
\n“The fire broke out at a factory in a residential area of Sahibabad around 4:30 am in the morning. Thirteen people, who were sleeping there have died and another two or three people are getting treated at the hospital,” Bhagwat Singh, local police spokesman told AFP.
\nPolice superintendent Salman Taj said that three of the dead were burnt to death while the others died of smoke inhalation.
\nResidents and a local fire officer said that two of the workers survived by jumping from the building\u2019s balcony.
\n“The two of them woke up by chance and say they screamed for others to wake up while running towards the terrace but others didn\u2019t wake up, perhaps it was already late,” local fire officer Abbas Hussain said.
\nHussain described piles of leather stacked in the building\u2019s narrow staircase and cramped workshop, adding that the factory was most likely illegal.
\n“From what we see, there was nothing proper and the factory must surely not have been a legal one but we can say for sure only after a proper investigation,” Hussain said.
\nPolice superintendent Taj confirmed that the two building owners had been detained.
\nThe fire is yet another blight on India\u2019s poor record for workplace safety where deadly accidents are commonplace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GHAZIABAD, India : Thirteen workers died in a fire at a suspected illegal garment factory on the outskirts of the Indian capital early Friday as they slept in the workshop. The blaze started in the early hours of the morning on the ground floor of the narrow residential building, which was being used to make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6328","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n