Updated on
Summary The owner of ill-fated garments factory vowed to compensate heirs of the victims.
Shahid Bela, the owner of the factory, while expressing grief over death of workers said that heirs of the victims will be compensated.He also vowed to cooperate with the authorities in the investigation.At least 289 people died in a horrific blaze that engulfed the garments factory situated in Baldia Town of Karachi on Tuesday, an unprecedented industrial tragedy that prompted calls for an overhaul of poor safety standards.The toll rose rapidly during the day as firefighters extinguished smouldering embers and found dozens of dead huddled together in the basement and ground floor of the factory, where they suspect that the fire began.Many of those on the upper floors of the building were rescued or jumped to escape the inferno, although dozens broke limbs on impact with the street.Interior Minister Rehman Malik said he had ordered an inquiry into the incident.Officials said the factory in Karachi in particular was in poor condition and lacked emergency exits.Officials said two brothers who owned the company had been barred from leaving the country. Their names have been put on exit control list, a senior government official told.Relatives of the victims called on the government to initiate criminal proceedings against the factory owners and also initiate effective monitoring of workplaces to prevent such tragic incidents in the future.
