Pakistan Factory Collapse Kills at Least 16

Correction appended, Nov. 6

A factory under construction in Lahore, Pakistan, collapsed in the very early hours of Wednesday morning, leaving at least 16 dead, according to local officials.

Emergency workers say that up to 150 people could still be trapped under the rubble and that a major rescue operation is ongoing.

The operation was moving slowly as excavators were having trouble reaching the end of the narrow lane where the factory was located, a provincial spokesperson told reporters according to al-Jazeera.

State-run TV reported that 45 of those injured in the collapse have been transferred to hospitals in the area, the BBC said.

Calls for accountability over safety conditions in South Asia’s factories have spiked, particularly after the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh killed over 1,100 individuals. Pakistan’s building safety levels are generally substandard, the BBC says.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the time of the factory’s collapse. It collapsed early Wednesday morning.

[BBC]