Three victims of the Lakhani factory fire in Faridabad died at the Safdarjung Hospital on Saturday. Of the eight patients currently admitted at the hospital, six are critical with over 90 per cent burn injuries, doctors said.

“It took me a few minutes to recognise my son and his friend, I passed by them twice in the hospital,” Pramod Kumar Srivastava, whose son Ashish, 22, is battling for his life in the burns ward at the hospital, said. A quality control worker, Ashish was waiting for his overtime payment when one of the boilers exploded.

The factory management had announced on Friday night that the cost of treatment would be borne by them. But several relatives at the hospital today said the company is yet to give them any money for treatment. “If the management is going to reimburse the costs why are patients not being referred to better facilities for burn injuries?” a relative asked.

Hospital authorities said most patients are critical and on life support. “Three patients have died and seven are critical. One patient who suffered less than 50 per cent burn is in a stable condition,” Safdarjung Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Jagdish Prasad said.

According to the victims admitted in the hospital, there was a large crowd on the factory premises when the blaze started, since it was time for the next shift to start, and also because many workers were awaiting payments for working overtime. “There were close to a thousand people in and around the unit when the fire broke out,” Manish, who “luckily” did not attend work on Friday due to a running fever, said.

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