Lahore factory collapse kills three

ROUGH CUT - NO REPORTER NARRATION

A three-storey factory collapsed on Monday in the Pakistani city of Lahore after a gas explosion, killing at least three people and trapping dozens, emergency officials said.

An emergency official at the site told Reuters by telephone that two houses next to the factory had also collapsed.

Karamat Ali, a spokesman for the government Rescue 1122 emergency service, said three dead, including a 10-year-old boy, and 13 survivors had been pulled out of the rubble.

He said 17 women and 45 men were at work, when the factory, which produced veterinary medical products, crumbled, and the death toll was expected to rise.

Rescue workers and residents were shifting rubble by hand.