Worker burnt to death in Panipat thread factory fire

What happened

Around 3.30 am on Tuesday, 27 October 2026, fire broke out in a thread-making unit in the Shivnagar industrial area next to Kishanpura in Panipat, Haryana. The unit sits behind the cremation ground and makes yarn and thread from cotton and synthetic fibre. Work was going on inside at that hour. The flames spread quickly and the workers ran for safety. One of them did not get out and was burnt to death at the spot. A second worker was badly burnt, taken to hospital and then referred to a bigger centre because of his condition. Updated 27 October 2026.

Two fire tenders and the police reached the site, and the firefighters brought the blaze under control after a hard fight. One report says it took about seven hours to put out fully, and another says the fire was kept from reaching the neighbouring buildings. The police sent the body for post-mortem. Stock was destroyed, but nobody has put a figure on the loss yet.

What the authorities are checking

The district fire officer is reported to have asked the management for the unit’s fire NOC, the no-objection certificate that fire departments issue to premises that meet the fire rules. The police are looking into whether the safety arrangements were in place and being followed when the fire started. Nothing has been announced on the cause, and no one has been blamed in the reports we read.

Why a yarn unit burns this way

Cotton fibre, polyester yarn, packing sacks and cardboard are all easy fuel. Fine lint settles on machines, beams and ceilings and carries a flame from one spot to the next, so a small flare can become a hall-wide fire in a few minutes. In the small hours there are usually fewer people on the floor, so a fire can be noticed later, and a worker deep inside a shed may be the farthest from the door. For more on how such fires start and spread, see our guide on boiler explosions and factory fires in India and our basics on workplace fire safety.

Haryana has seen workers die in factory fires before. Our Sonipat foam factory fire case study is one example. In Jaipur, two workers died of suffocation at a jewellery unit, covered in our Sitapura factory fire report.

What is still not known

The cause of the fire is not known. The reports differ on the start time (about 3.00 or 3.30 am), on the number of fire tenders (two in most reports, “several” in one), on how many workers were inside and on how long the firefighting went on. The state of the injured worker is described as critical and no later update was found. The result of the fire NOC check and the loss figure have not been announced.

What you can do tonight

If you work a night shift in a mill, spinning unit or any factory with fibre and packing stock, walk from your own working spot to the nearest exit before the shift gets busy. Check that the door opens from inside without a key, that nothing is stacked in front of it, and that you know a second way out. Then tell your supervisor about anything that blocks the way. It takes five minutes, and on a night like this it is the five minutes that count. Owners can do the same walk and ask for the extinguishers and alarm to be tested. For the extinguisher side of it, our fire extinguisher basics and fire NOC guide are a good start. If someone is burnt, cool the burn under clean running water for about twenty minutes and call 108, as set out in our first aid guide. For fire, call 112 or 101.