KARACHI  - “The bodies were iron hot,” said a rescuer who himself got burnt while carrying the victims of a factory fire that left at least 289 people dead.Ameen Memon, a rescuer, said that most of the rescue team members burnt their hands while trying to carry the smouldering bodies from the garments factory in Baldia Town.The fire at the factory here was one of worst infernos the country has seen. The blaze broke out just a few hours after another fire at a factory in Lahore that left 25 people dead.“The bodies were iron hot. We got burnt even if we tried to carry them to the ambulances with the help of some cloth. The skin of the victims started peeling off and in some cases, their body parts turned into ash,” a private TV channel quoted Memon as saying.He said that some of them were overcome by emotion when they saw a mother looking for her sons at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.  “All three were burnt alive,” he said.Factory owner agrees to cooperate:  The owner of ill-fated garments factory in which 289 people died has vowed to compensate heirs of the victims. Shahid Bela, the owner of the factory, while expressing grief over death of workers said that heirs of the victims will be compensated, reported a private TV channel. He also vowed to cooperate with the authorities in the investigation.At least 289 people died in a horrific blaze that engulfed the garments factory situated in Baldia Town of Karachi on Tuesday, an unprecedented industrial tragedy that prompted calls for an overhaul of poor safety standards.Interior Minister Rehman Malik said he had ordered an inquiry into the incident.Officials said the factory in Karachi in particular was in poor condition and lacked emergency exits.Officials said two brothers who owned the company had been barred from leaving the country. “Their names have been put on exit control list,” a senior government official told.Relatives of the victims called on the government to initiate criminal proceedings against the factory owners and also initiate effective monitoring of workplaces to prevent such tragic incidents in the future.

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