KARACHI, Jan 21: A young labourer died in a fire that broke out in a garments factory in a New Karachi area in the early hours of Saturday, officials said.

They said that the fire engulfed the single-storey factory located near Sindhi Hotel in the New Karachi Industrial Area within a few minutes.

An official at the Central Fire Office said that three fire tenders were sent to the scene to put out the fire. The fire-fighting operation took one hour to complete, he added.

He said that four workers were sleeping inside the factory when the fire broke out. “Although three others were rescued, 20-year-old Mulazim Hussain suffered serious burn wounds and was shifted to a hospital, where he died during treatment.”

He said that initial findings did not suggest any arson or sabotage activity that led to the fire. “The fire also damaged the facility and bundles of garment products worth hundreds of thousands of rupees,” added the official.