Devastating Factory Fire Kills at Least 43 in Indian Capital

Devastating Factory Fire Kills at Least 43 in Indian Capital
A fire engine stands by the site of a fire in an alleyway, tangled in electrical wire and too narrow for vehicles to access, in New Delhi, India, on Dec. 8, 2019. Manish Swarup/AP Photo
The Associated Press
Updated:

NEW DELHI—A fire believed to be caused by an electrical short circuit engulfed a building in India’s capital on Sunday where handbags and other items were made by workers earning as little as 2 dollars per day, killing at least 43 people.

The blaze in New Delhi’s Karol Bagh neighborhood, a warren of narrow alleyways with electrical wiring strung helter-skelter, was the second major fire there this year. In February, 17 people were killed in a blaze that started in a six-story building’s illegal rooftop kitchen.