Fire guts Jalandhar sports factory

Jalandhar (punjab), Mar.24 (ANI): A fire destroyed a sports manufacturing factory here on Saturday.

Eyewitnesses said the fire broke early this morning. However, they said there were no casualties.

Fire fighting officers said about thirty fire tenders were used to douse the fire.

"Apart from our fire fighters, factory workers also helped us. This enabled us to douse the fire within a short period," said Fire Officer, B. B. Jassai.

Though the cause of the fire has not been confirmed yet, the factory management said it was due to electrical short-circuiting.

On March 21, a fire severely disrupted services at the emergency wing the state's largest referral hospital.

Last year, in the month of December, a fire tore through a seven-storey private hospital in the city due to negligence of civic authorities and management of the hospital, claiming at least 84 lives, most of them intensive care patients who were asleep and suffocated in the fumes.

Fire safety regulations are lax, rarely implemented and not periodically reviewed in most commercial places and allied industries across India. (ANI)