LAHORE: A man died of suffocation while a few others got injured after a massive fire broke out in a factory on Multan Road here on Wednesday.

The blaze spread so fast that it gutted several goods, including electronics, and razed the boundary walls and a portion of the roof of the factory, some eyewitnesses and the police said.

The factory was largely manufacturing fridges, deep freezers, air conditioners and other home appliances at the Lohara Wala Kho on Multan Road.

He said scores of vehicles of the Rescue 1122, including the special motorbikes, rushed to the spot and launched an operation. A Rescue 1122 spokesperson said some 55 personnel took part in the operation.

During the operation, a young man, said to be an employee of the [Orient] factory, died of suffocation, a police official quoting the Rescue 1122 staff said.

Identified as Sarfraz Ahmad, the man was shifted to a local hospital but the doctors declared him ‘received dead.’

He said many others also got trapped after the fire spread fast due to huge stock of chemical stored in a portion of the factory, leaving little room for them to rush to the safe place.

Almost entire staff of the factory had left the premises shortly after they noticed fire and dense smoke, the police official said.

The police have launched investigation to ascertain the cause of the fire which continued till the filing of the report at 10:30pm.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2022