KARACHI, Dec 1: Two factory workers died and three others were injured when roof of a factory collapsed in Korangi Industrial Area early on Wednesday morning.

Police said that roof of a pharmaceutical company collapsed following an explosion reportedly occurred in the machinery. The two labourers, identified as Mohammad Sohail and Sohail Ahmed, died on the spot.

According to the Chief Fire Officer Kazim Ali, who supervised the rescue operation, four trapped workers were rescued alive from the rubbles during the night. Kazim Ali told Dawn that explosion occurred in the production unit of the factory which resulted in roof collapse.

He said that loss of life could have been much more if the incident had occurred during the day when full strength of workers would be present in the factory. He said that the fire department workers had to break a few parts of the building in order to rescue wounded labourers and retrieve the bodies. The three injured workers were rushed to the JPMC, he added.

SHOT DEAD: A police constable was shot dead by unknown persons in Lyari on Wednesday. Police said that constable Sajid Husain Baloch, 35, was sitting outside his house in Shah Beg Lane in the limits of Baghdadi police station when unknown persons on a motorcycle opened fire at him.

The seriously wounded police constable was rushed to the Civil Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival. According to the area police, Sajid was active in the operation against the gang war in Lyari. Police suspected that any of the two gangs could be behind Sajid's killing.