Fire explosions in Khi & Lhr factories

At least 289 people died at a garment factory in Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city, just hours after 21 died at a shoe factory in Lahore, close to the Indian border.

In scenes of horror, relatives watched as loved ones jumped from windows of the four-storey Karachi building where hundreds were working in a bid to escape the blaze, which began late on Tuesday.

The city's top administration official, Karachi Roshan Shaikh, told AFP that more victims were being recovered and that he expected the toll to rise.

The toll rose rapidly during the day as firefighters extinguished smouldering embers and found dozens of dead huddled together in the basement and ground floor of the factory, where they suspect that the fire began.

"We didn't find bodies in ones or twos, but in the dozens, which is why the death toll is increasing so alarmingly," said Karachi fire chief Ehtesham Salim.

Many of those on the upper floors of the building were rescued or jumped to escape the inferno, although dozens broke limbs on impact with the street.

Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said he had ordered an inquiry into both fires. Officials said the factory in Karachi in particular was in poor condition and lacked emergency exits.

"The building has developed cracks and there is a danger it can collapse any time," Shaikh told Pakistan's private Geo TV channel. "Owners of the factory have been absconding and raids are being conducted for their arrest," he said.

Officials said two brothers who owned the company have been barred from leaving the country. "Their names have been put on exit control list," a senior government official told AFP.

Irfan Moton, chairman of the Sindh Industrial Trading Estate (SITE) told AFP he believed there were 600 to 700 people in the factory when the fire broke out. "We believe many people have come out, but still there are fears the final toll could be higher," he said.

In January 2009, 40 people were killed, more than half of them children, when a fire engulfed dozens of wooden homes in Karachi's impoverished Baldia neighbourhood, but Tuesday's tragedy was considered the deadliest in Pakistani industry.

"It was terrible, suddenly the entire floor filled with fire and smoke and the heat was so intense that we rushed towards the windows, broke its steel grille and glass and jumped out," said Mohammad Saleem, 32, who broke a leg after jumping out of the second floor.

"I saw many people jumping out of windows and crying in pain for help," he said.

According to workers, the factory produced underwear and plastic utensils.

The garment trade is vital to Pakistan's shaky economy.

According to central bank data, the textiles industry contributed 7.4 per cent to Pakistan's GDP in 2011 and employed 38 per cent of the manufacturing sector workforce. It accounted for 55.6 per cent of total exports.

Noman Ahmed, from the NED University of Engineering and Technology in Karachi, said few industries and businesses implement the law on safety and fire exits, finding it easy to avoid because of lack of effective monitoring.

"Most of our shopping centres and markets too have no safety mechanism, which the authorities should review seriously, otherwise it could cause graver tragedies in future," he said.

Officials said the cause of the fire was unknown but Rauf Siddiqi, the industry minister for the southern province of Sindh, of which Karachi is the capital, said the owner could face negligence charges.

"We have ordered an inquiry into how the fire erupted and why proper emergency exits were not provided at the factory so that the workers could escape," Siddiqi said.

In Lahore, flames also trapped dozens of workers in a shoe-making factory, killing 21 and injuring 14 others, where Tariq Zaman, a government official, blamed a faulty generator.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan expressed "grave concern" over the fires and demanded immediate attention to ensuring safe working conditions for factory workers.