HARIPUR, July 2: Police remain clueless about the cause of fire at a cement factory in Hattar last week that had left at least nine workers dead and scores of others wounded.

The Hattar police had confirmed the death of nine workers, including production manager and two engineers, in the fire incident here.

At least six workers, including two engineers, a supervisor and two workers, had burnt to death on the spot and twenty others received burn injuries, when the fire broke out in the factory in the Hattar Industrial area, some 12km from here on June 27.

Though the cause of the blaze is yet to be ascertained, the police suspect negligence on the part of the factory administration as a possible reason. According to police account of the incident, about 25-30 workers of Saadi Cement Factory were busy in the pre-heater department of the plant, when at around 9.45pm, the fire broke out with a blast.

A factory worker told Dawn on condition of anonymity that the accident occurred when the pipe carrying raw material (melted stone) from kiln to cyclone drum had got chocked and the production manager and engineers tried to clear the blockage.

During the effort, the material gushed out with a bang and spilled over the workers present on the premises. When the burning liquid hit the drums filled with furnace oil, he said, they caught fire with a blast, setting a portion of the building on fire.

Hazara Labour Federation chief Lala Ehsan Qureshi and Syed Ibrar Hussain Shah of RDP said the incident was a result of criminal negligence and violation of labour code and IRO 2002. They demanded action against the factory owners for what they called "murder of nine workers" and sought adequate compensation for the victims' families.