Pakistan factory collapses in gas blast, 3 dead, many trapped

LAHORE, Pakistan | Mon Feb 6, 2012 1:04am EST

LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - A three-story factory collapsed on Monday in the Pakistani city of Lahore after a gas explosion, killing at least three people and trapping dozens, emergency officials said.

"The factory has completely collapsed and two houses next to it as well," an emergency official at the site told Reuters by telephone, adding authorities were having trouble getting heavy rescue machinery to the area because of narrow streets.

Karamat Ali, a spokesman for the government Rescue 1122 emergency service, said three dead, including a 10-year-old boy, and 13 survivors had been pulled out of the rubble.

He said 17 women and 45 men were at work when the factory, which produced veterinary medical products, crumbled, and the death toll was expected to rise.

Rescue workers and residents were shifting rubble by hand.

(Reporting by Mubasher Bukhari in LAHORE and Qasim Nauman in ISLAMABAD; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/worldNews/~3/EznhpChGMSc/us-pakistan-factory-collapse-idUSTRE8150A820120206

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