At least 280 people died at a garment factory in Karachi, in the worst fire in decades to hit the city, just hours after 21 died at a shoe factory in Lahore.
Dozens were hurt in Karachi as they jumped out of windows from the four-storey building to escape the blaze that began on Tuesday evening in a bid to save their lives, as sobbing relatives of trapped workers scuffled with police overnight.
The inferno that sparked on Tuesday evening at a garment factory in Karachi kept wreaking havoc until Wednesday evening as the rescue workers recovered 246 bodies while still fearing there were more to recover.
Earlier report said that the fire in the multi-storey garment factory in Baldia Town area of Karachi broke out at 6 pm local time on Tuesday, leaving 166 people dead, hours after a blaze at a shoe factory in Lahore, claimed 25 lives, officials said today.
Rescue workers had pulled out 166 bodies from the Karachi factory till this afternoon and the toll could rise as several areas of the multi-storey building are yet to be cleared, Karachi Commissioner Roshan Ali Shaikh told reporters. Health Minister of Sindh province, Sagheer Ahmed said, 31 people were injured in the Karachi fire. Officials said that only about 55 bodies had been identified so far as many of them were badly charred.