ATC summons more witnesses in Baldia factory fire case on Jan 23

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KARACHI: The anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Saturday, after recording statements of the five witnesses of the Baldia factory fire incident, sought more eye-witnesses to record their statements on Jan 23.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) senior leader Rauf Siddiqui, MQM workers Rehman alias Bhoola, Zubair, and others had appeared before the ATC.

Witnesses told the court that a fire had “suddenly” erupted at the factory and they jumped out of the window to save their lives.

Heirs of four of the deceased victims said that they had come to know through TV channels that factory was caught in the blaze. “When we reached there, charred bodies were being taken out of the factory,’ they said.

They also said that the police took a few days to return bodies of their family members.

On Jan 16, the court had recorded the statements of 13 witnesses, including five survivors of the inferno, in the Baldia factory fire case and summoned more witnesses.

Earlier on January 10, a German court had thrown out a lawsuit by Pakistani plaintiffs against clothing retailer KiK over a deadly 2012 fire at the Karachi garment factory, saying that the statute of limitations had expired.

The blaze at the Ali Enterprises factory, or Baldia Factory Fire, had killed 258 people in one of Pakistan’s worst industrial disasters.