News   /   India

Fire at Indian garment factory kills 13

This file image shows Indian firefighters containing a fire at a factory in Sivakasi in the southern India state of Tamil Nadu on October 20, 2016. (By AFP)

A fire at a garment factory in India has left over a dozen people dead and a couple of others injured near the capital city, New Delhi.

“The fire broke out at a factory in a residential area of Sahibabad around 4:30 am (1100 GMT Thursday), in the morning,” local police spokesman Bhagwat Singh told media on Friday.

“Thirteen people, who were sleeping there, have died and another two or three people are getting treated at the hospital,” he added.

Singh guessed a short circuit in an electrical wire had caused the fire but said an investigation would determine the cause with certainty.

Local fire officer Abbas Hussain said the factory was most likely illegal.

“From what we see, there was nothing proper and the factory must surely not have been a legal one but we can say for sure only after a proper investigation,” he said.

The factory, located in Uttar Pradesh State and on the edge of New Delhi, made leather jackets and other clothing.

Poor safety standards in India make work-related incidents common in the highly-populated country.

A massive fire in a firecracker factory killed 15 people in May 2014 in Madhya Pradesh. Eight workers were killed last month in a huge explosion at another fireworks factory in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.


Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk

SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Press TV News Roku