In a densely populated area outside of Mumbai, four fire brigades put out a denim factory fire that was reported by local residents early Sunday morning, according to TV9 Marathi. No injuries were reported.
The Feb. 27 fire, reported at 7 a.m. in the city of Ulhasnagar, destroyed the unnamed factory where large rolls of denim fabric, machinery and other equipment were housed, reports said. Because there were so many other factories and buildings near the conflagration, it was feared the blaze would spread. But it was contained before it could leap to other structures.
The fire was suspected of being caused by an electrical short circuit, but no definitive cause has been determined.
The fire in India comes days after a footwear factory fire in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka killed at least three people and injured 40 more. The blaze that broke out at 5 p.m. on Feb. 23 at Uniworld Footwear in the Ashulia industrial district was fought by six firefighting units that discovered three charred bodies on the grounds. Two of the victims were women and the other victim could not be identified because of extensive burns. The cause of the fire was unknown.
According to shipping data from Panjiva, the factory sent footwear as recently as November to Fashion Footwear, a New York company whose brands include Danskin, Gloria Vanderbilt, Pony and Wanted.
In mid-February, six people were arrested after a Turkish textile factory fire in Istanbul killed five workers, including four Syrian refugees. The four refugees reportedly tried to lock themselves inside a toilet to escape the blaze but died from smoke inhalation.
And one year ago in Egypt, at least 20 people were killed, and 24 others injured in a clothing factory fire outside of Cairo. The cause of the blaze, which tore through a four-story structure, was unknown.
All these factory fires occurred nearly 10 years after the watershed Rana Plaza collapse on April 24, 2013. The building in Dhaka housed five garment factories where at least 1,132 people were killed and more than 2,500 were injured.
Five months prior to Rana Plaza, at least 112 workers lost their lives after being trapped inside the burning Tazreen Fashions factory on the outskirts of Dhaka.
