Fire Kills 12 Workers Sleeping In Shop Loft In Space-starved Mumbai



Image / (AFP). 


Twelve workers sleeping in the loft of a dry snacks store in an industrial area of Mumbai were killed early on Monday by a fire that trapped them in small space they had rented to rest.

Prabhat Rahangdale, chief fire officer of the Mumbai Fire Brigade, who said Most of the men who died were migrant workers, they had identified 10 of the 12 charred bodies by evening.




The fire started on the ground floor and the intense heat and smoke trapped the workers sleeping on the loft, which subsequently collapsed, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Industry studies show more than 90 percent of India’s workforce — an estimated 400 million people — are in informal employment. This includes laborers on farms and construction sites, as well as in shops, hotels and restaurants.

Many work in conditions that violate Indian laws enacted decades ago to protect labor rights.


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