"Deadly factory fire in Pakistan", 31 August 2021

On 27 August, 17 workers in Mehran Town, Pakistan, were killed as a fire swept through an illegal factory producing bags. Exits and windows were barred, meaning the workers had no way out...

The only entrance and exit to BM Industry’s illegal factory was locked, as was the door to the roof which could have been used as an escape route, and iron bars covered the windows. Attempts to fight the fire only started two hours after it had broken out...

... the Chief minister’s adviser and Karachi administrator barrister Murtaza Wahab has promised the families of the deceased Rs1 million (US$6,000) as compensation, along with food rations and free education for their orphaned children.

Nasir Mansoor, general secretary of the National Trade Union Federation Pakistan, says that the fire reminds him of the Baldia factory fire in 2012, where 259 workers died. “If lessons had been learned from the fire in 2012, maybe this incident would never have happened...We demand compensation from the owners, as well as the government. There must also be a judicial inquiry into the cause of the fire.”...