Three workers were killed when a fire broke out at a garment label factory in Ahmedabad at the weekend, in the second such incident in the region this month.
The factory, which stored rayon fibre, has been identified as Lotus Label Industries, according to reports, located in Odhav. The workers were understood to have been asphyxiated to death by the fire, which broke out at 3.30pm on the third floor of the factory.
The cause of the blaze is yet to be ascertained, local media reports say.
It follows a fire earlier this month at a denim manufacturing facility in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, which resulted in seven deaths.
The fire occurred at the Nandan Denim factory on 8 February. A fire department official said the fabricated shed structure of the factory go-down had just one staircase with a narrow path without any air ventilation, contributing to the death toll. The fire safety equipment was also found to not be working, according to reports.
The incident led to calls for concerted preventive safety measures throughout India’s garment industry.
The Clean Clothes Campaign questioned how apparent safety violations in such a major factory have gone under the radar of government institutions and international brands.
“This means that the supply chain monitoring systems of the major companies sourcing from this factory, usually carried out through commercial auditing firms, have all failed to either detect or remediate the lack of sufficient and safe exits and other safety measures in the factory.”
