BAHAWALNAGAR: An 18-year-old worker was burnt alive in the furnace of a brick kiln that used the zigzag technology in McLeod Ganj on Saturday.

Akbar Bodla, a resident of village Touakal Bodla, was refueling the furnace of the Al-Makkah Bhatta when he fell into it. This is the second such incident in two months.

The eyewitnesses said Akbar was filling the large holes of the furnace with fuel on a handcart when his foot slipped and he fell into the hole.

McLeod Ganj SHO Muhammad Aslam quoted the witnesses as saying that it was an accident and the family had not filed any complaint against the owner of the kiln.

District Officer (Emergency) Rao Sharafat said that on receiving the information of the incident, the Recue 1122 team reached the spot, put out the fire in the furnace by pouring water into it and retrieved the body, which was completely burnt.

Earlier, in July, a worker, Muhammad Rafique (45), had received burns on 95pc of his body while working at a kiln near the NADRA Office in Minchinabad. He was shifted to the Mayo Hospital Lahore but he died in the hospital.

Imdad Wattoo, a kiln owner at Minchinabad, told Dawn there were 24 holes for refilling fuel in a furnace of a zigzag technology kiln and incidents of labourers falling into the holes had happened in the past too. However, in the older technology, the fire burnt in the lower parts of the kiln and furnace was sealed with concrete lids, he said, adding that workers were safer in the old technology.

In contrast, he said, in furnaces in the zigzag technology the fire burnt in the upper part and it was not limited to a single hole but to all 24 holes. Because of this, the cement lids become dilapidated. He said that when a labourer fell into a hole, the dilapidated lid would, sending the poor man into the inferno.

Published in Dawn, August 15th , 2021