Three labourers die in furnace blaze at oil factory

At least three labourers were burnt alive in an incident of fire in a furnace oil factory in Rana Town area of District Sheikhupura.

The fire reportedly broke out because of an explosion in a boiler, and all of a sudden it turned into a huge one. A rescue officer shared with The Express Tribune that a caller intimated the service about the fire and said that two or three persons of the staff were missing.

The area is around 10 kilometres away from Shahdara, Lahore and some 50km from Sheikhupura city. The rescue teams were dispatched from Lahore and Sheikhupura.

At least 30 rescuers and 10 rescue vehicles participated in the rescue operation which was led by District Emergency Officer Sheikhupura (DEO) Rana Ejaz. The rescuers strived first to evacuate the victims and bodies after they reached the site, the official said.

They launched the search operation and evacuated three bodies. The bodies were shifted to a morgue. Due to the fire, a portion of the factory building collapsed. It was feared that the victims might get trapped under the debris.

The rescue official said it was a tedious job to control the fire as highly combustible material and furnace oil were present inside the factory in huge quantity. The fire was extinguished after a hectic firefighting operation for about four hours. However, even after the site was declared clear, some rescue teams remained busy in the cooling process.

Causalities due to accidents involving fire owing to poor working environment and lack of safety measures are reported frequently in the region.

Last year in January, at least 11 people were killed and two injured in an incident of cylinder explosion in a perfume manufacturing unit situated in Shahdara, which is only a few kilometers from the recent incident site.

At least three people were burnt alive in a shoe factory fire in Ravi Road area in 2017. At least five workers were killed in a fire incident in Haidri Steel Mill in Hadiara in 2016. Three teenage workers were killed in a boiler explosion in a milk production unit in Shahpur Kanjran in 2016.

A shoe factory fire on Band Road had claimed 25 workers’ lives in 2012. At least 40 people had died in an explosion in a chemical factory near Kharak Nullah in Sabzazar a decade ago.

According to Rescue 1122’s yearly report, at least 79 people died in fire incidents across Punjab during 2020.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2021.