Army and emergency services rush to scene of disaster. People trapped make contact through cell phones. So far 98 people have been pulled alive from the rubble. At the time of the collapse there were about 200 workers inside. Incident adds to tragedies of recent years.

Lahore (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Pakistani authorities have launched a massive relief operation in an attempt to save dozens of people trapped since yesterday under the rubble of a collapsed factory in Lahore, in Punjab province.

So far 18 deaths have been reported, but the toll is provisional and the number is likely to increase in the coming hours. A tragedy that confirms, once again, the poor working conditions in many realities of South Asia as evidenced by several incidents in the recent past, including the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh in 2013, which caused more than a thousand victims.

Local sources said that the collapse involved a factory still under construction, possibly damaged by the earthquake last week. Rescuers are using various means, including cranes and bulldozers in an attempt to move the rubble. Army units are on site to help with recovery operations.

The reasons for the collapse are still unknown, although such incidents are certainly not rare in a country where the security standards at construction sites and in the workplace is often insufficient. Two floors of the building, part of the Sundar Industrial Estate complex, on the outskirts of Lahore, were already in operation and a third was still under construction.

According to Jam Sajjad Hussain, spokesman of the rescue teams, there were about 200 workers when the collapse occurred, although it is difficult to make precise estimates. So far at least 98 people have been pulled alive from the rubble, many of whom have had to seek medical attention in hospital.

Some workers trapped between walls and rubble used their phones to call rescuers for help and guide them in recovery operations. "We were working on the first floor - says one of the workers trapped, contacted by telephone - when the ceiling suddenly collapsed”.  He described hearing the noise of the emergency rescue teams which "gave me the hope of being able to get out alive."

In September last year, in Lahore, at least 24 people were killed in the collapse of a mosque. In February 2012 another 17, including children, died in the collapse of a factory caused by a gas leak in a residential area of ​​the city. In September of the same year 289 people were burned alive in a fire in a textile factory in Karachi, a metropolis in the south of Pakistan.

• pakistan
• lahore
• factory
• collapse