Factory fire toll hits 17

A MASSIVE fire broke out at a fireworks factory on the northern outskirts of the Indian capital New Delhi at the weekend, killing at least 17 workers, a fire official said.

It took three hours for a dozen crews to extinguish the blaze in the Bawana industrial area yesterday with 17 bodies so far recovered, fire official KC Gupta said.

One injured worker was in hospital and recovery teams were searching for more trapped workers in the gutted two-storey structure.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known.