Nearly 300 people were killed in a fire that consumed a garment factory in Karachi, the largest city in Pakistan, it was reported Wednesday.
Another two dozen people were killed at a shoe factory fire in the city of Lahore, reported Reuters.
Mohammad Pervez, an employee at the garment factory, told the news agency that “the owners were more concerned with safeguarding the garments in the factory than the workers.”
“If there were no metal grilles on the windows a lot of people would have been saved. The factory was overflowing with garments and fabrics. Whoever complained was fired.”
Rescue workers told The New York Times that most died due to smoke inhalation.
The factory was described as cramped and with few escape routes, the newspaper said.
A survivor, Muhammad Aslam told the Times that “only one entrance was open. All the others were closed.”
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