Shoe factory fire kills more than 20 in Pakistan's Lahore: official

Enlarge

Pakistani rescue workers carry an elderly survivor on a stretcher during continued search for victims from the debris of a collapsed building in Lahore on February 7, 2012. Pakistani rescuers on February 7 plucked survivors from the rubble of a collapsed factory in Lahore, where another 10 people are still buried under the debris and the death toll rose to 19. The three-storey building used to manufacture veterinary medicines caved in from a probable boiler and a gas cylinder explosion at the premises in the congested Multan Road area of Pakistan's second largest city on February 6. AFP PHOTO / ARIF ALI (ARIF ALI/AFP/Getty Images)

A huge fire in a shoe factory in eastern Pakistan today killed over 20 people, a police officer told the Associated Press.

Pakistan's Express News said people may still be inside the burning building, which has reportedly been surrounded by a dozen fire engines. 

Local policeman Multan Khan told AP that the fire has so far killed 21 people and injured six at the Lahore factory.

More from GlobalPost: Pakistan's blasphemy law no longer sacred

It was not immediately clear what caused the fire, but Pakistan's Frontier Post and Khan said a large amount of chemicals kept in the factory may have been set off by a spark from the electric generator.

Over 100 people worked at the factory, which was equipped with only one entrance/exit, according to Express News. 

The large fire has reportedly burned cars parked outside the building. 

Safety measures in factories in Pakistan are frequently lacking, with tragic results.

The collapse of a Lahore factory in February killed 13 people, according to BBC News. 

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/pakistan/120911/shoe-factory-fire-kills-more-20-pakistans-lahore-