Eleven people were killed in a fire that ripped through a paint factory in India’s capital, an official said Friday, with rescue teams still searching for survivors.
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The fire broke out on New Delhi’s northern outskirts late Thursday, fire services director Atul Garg told AFP.

“There was a blast in the paint factory, and the building collapsed. The victims were labourers in the factory,” Garg said.

“The impact was such that the fire spread to a house and a drug rehabilitation centre nearby.”

Garg said the fire had since been contained and the cause of the blast was yet to be determined.
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Factory accidents are common across India, with owners often ignoring basic safety requirements and operating without permits.

More than 40 people died in a fire in a factory making school bags and shoes in Delhi in 2019.

As is often the case, many of the dead were poor migrant workers earning a pittance and sleeping at the factory.

One of India’s worst fires was in 1985 at a school in the northern state of Haryana where 442 people died, 258 of them children.

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