M A I N   N E W S

44 charred to death in shoe factory fire

Agra, May 24
At least 44 persons were charred to death and 15 hospitalised with burn injuries in a major fire which engulfed a shoe factory here today.

The fire broke out in the factory at around 10.45 a.m and spread fast engulfing the entire two-storey building when around 100 workers were inside the premises in the bustling Jeoni Mandi market area of the city, police sources said.

Rescuers, including the Army and the Air Force personnel, have so far retrieved 44 badly charred bodies, they said. Fifteen more were hospitalised with varying percentages of burns. The building collapsed following the fire, police sources said adding as the debris clearing operation was still on, the possibility of the death toll going up could not be ruled out. PTI

100 feared dead in ferry mishap

Barisal, Bangladesh, May 24
More than 100 persons were feared drowned after a ferry sank in a Bangladesh river just three weeks since a similar accident killed nearly 500 persons, police sources said today.

Superintendent Abdullah Al-Azad said the M. L. Suraha was carrying about 100 persons when it sank in the Baleswar river in the south of the country during a storm on Thursday night.

It was heading from Charduani in the coastal district of Pirojepur to the industrial district of Khulana when it went down. Reuters