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42 killed, 13 injured in shoe factory fire in Agra

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

At least 42 people were killed and 13 injured in a fire that engulfed a shoe factory in the heart of Agra city on Friday.

The fire broke out shortly after the factory opened for the day in the morning at 10.45 am.

"Apparently the blaze was caused by a stray bidi end," district magistrate Mahesh Kumar Gupta told rediff.com over telephone.

"While 42 bodies have been recovered so far, we do not rule out the possibility of more bodies trapped inside the debris," he said.

He said, "As many as about 80 workers are believed to be trapped inside because there is only one entry and exit to the first floor portion of the building where the tragedy occurred."

"Some workers managed to save their lives by sliding down a rope they managed to put out of the lone window in the hall," he said.

Nearly 15 fire tenders were pressed into service to control the fire, he said. The fire is believed to have spread rapidly due to chemicals kept in the factory.

Army and air force help was sought to take out people trapped inside the burning building in the bustling Jeoni Mandi market area, Senior Superintendent of Police V K Maurya said.

One of the walls of the building had to be broken to rescue the trapped workers, he said. As fire fighters were struggling to control the blaze, the two-storeyed building collapsed completely, he said, adding that efforts were on to remove the debris to ensure that no one was buried.

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