The injured are undergoing treatment at the Civil Hospital in Gurgaon and three fire tenders were stationed at the spot till Tuesday evening.

Drawing a comparison with the fire at Lakhani shoe factory in Faridabad last month, District Fire Officer Hanuman Sihag said Monday’s fire was massive.

“We have been fighting the fire for over 24 hours now. The factory stored highly combustible material like shoes, garments and perfume in huge drums. Perfume is highly volatile and combustible. By night we had extinguished about 90 per cent of the fire, when there were two blasts in the basement. The perfume containers in the factory exploded around 1.30 am,” said Sihag.

The Adidas factory was located on a two-acre plot with 60 per cent built area.

The official added that fire could still be burning under the debris. “Unless we completely remove the debris it is difficult to say whether the fire has been extinguished. There is still some smoke coming out of the collapsed building,” Sihag said.

The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, Sihag said. “Our priority is to get 100 per cent control of the fire and to make sure that there is no one stuck under the wreckage. We will investigate into what caused the fire only after that,” the officer said.

Though the officials at the Adidas factory are tight-lipped about any casualties, Commissioner of Police, Gurgaon, S S Deswal said one Adidas staffer was reported missing.

“We cannot confirm deaths till a body is found from the debris. But we have received information that a manger with the company, hailing from Orissa has gone missing. We have informed his family and are looking for him,” Commissioner said. No case has been registered in this regard yet as the police has not received any formal complaint, he added.

“We have made a note of the incident but have not registered an FIR,” said Deswal.

Talking about the intensity of the fire Deswal said: “The fire officials had problem controlling the fire since it was difficult to reach the basement where the fire started.”