Factory fire at KiK supplier in Pakistan: minor fire safety improvements could have saved lives...

Inadequate fire safety measures at the company, a supplier for the German clothes retailer KiK, led to the agonizing deaths of 260 factory workers in the blaze. This is shown by a new computer simulation from Goldsmiths, University of London’s Forensic Architecture project. The simulation has now been submitted to the Regional Court in Dortmund, Germany, where legal action against KiK is ongoing. Since March 2015 the Court has been examining a civil claim against KiK filed by four Pakistanis – one survivor and three relatives of workers killed in the fire...

Using photos, videos and witness testimonies, the forensic experts reconstructed the exact dimensions, architecture and layout of the building and simulated the events on the night of the fire. In consultation with international fire safety experts they also simulated how the fire would have progressed if better safety measures had been in place. Based on this information and analysis, the Forensic Architecture team comes to a clear conclusion: small changes in fire safety precautions would have drastically reduced the impact of the fire.