Man dies in blaze at foam factory in Korangi

An unidentified man died in a fire that erupted at a factory in District Korangi on Friday. According to a spokesperson for the fire brigade, the place of the incident was a foam factory located in Sector 23 near Chamra Chowrangi in Korangi Industrial Area. The fire broke out at around 2:15pm when the factory was closed and a majority of its workers had gone out to offer Friday prayers, the spokesperson said.

He added that three fire tenders were immediately despatched to the site to douse the flames. However, factory employees and a crowd had themselves initiated efforts to extinguish the blaze when the fire tenders reached the factory. Later, four more fire tenders were sent there.

Police, rescue workers of various welfare organisations and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Raja Azhar also arrived at the fire site.

Police said one person lost his life in the fire. His body was taken to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for an autopsy and could not be immediately identified. The fire department spokesperson said there were some workers still inside the factory when the blaze occurred and the firefighters rescued them except for one, whose burnt body they found inside the factory. It took six hours for the firefighters to extinguish the blaze, the spokesperson said. The cooling process was under way when this news story was filed.