18 Dead, Many Trapped in Pakistan Factory Collapse

© REUTERS/Mohsin Raza Rescue workers search for survivors after a factory collapsed near the eastern city of Lahore, Pakistan November 4, 2015.

"People have received phone calls from three or four people from inside the debris, so we cannot remove the rubble recklessly," said Usman. The military was flying urban search-and-rescue teams to the scene, said a military spokesman in a text message. "Army engineers have been immediately moved for the rescue operation," the message said.
The factory, located at an industrial site about 20 km (12 miles) south of the city, manufactured shopping bags. It was not clear what caused the collapse, though construction work had been going on there. "My son is a daily wage laborer here. We can't find him among the dead or the injured, so I am just hoping that he will be recovered from the rubble safely," said Mohammad Ramzan, whose 24-year-old son Amin was missing.

 Pakistan's construction sector suffers from poor oversight and developers frequently flout building codes. In September 2012, 289 people burned to death in a fire at a garment factory in the southern city of Karachi. On the same day, a fire at a shoe factory in Lahore killed 25.

-Reuters-

So sad. May the souls of the dead rest in peace. I pray the trapped are rescued.