Damir Sagolj / Reuters

Bystanders look on as rescue workers try to save people from a burning building in central Lahore, Pakistan, on May 9, 2013.

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

A man sits on the window of a burning building before falling in central Lahore on May 9.

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

Bystanders look up at the burning LDA Plaza.

Reuters reports: Fire erupted on the seventh floor of the LDA plaza in Lahore and quickly spread to higher floors leaving many people trapped inside the building. At least three people fell from the high floors trying to avoid fire that engulfed the building, local media reports. Helicopters were used to rescue stranded victims from the roof of the building. 

Jamil Ahmed / Zuma Press

People try to save a man who lowered himself over the edge of the building to escape the fire.

Arif Ali / AFP - Getty Images

A Pakistani army helicopter rescues a man from the top of the building.

Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

A man suffering from smoke inhalation is rushed away after being rescued from the building.

Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

A policeman watches as rescue workers attempt to reach people trapped as a fire takes hold at the LDA Plaza.

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

Two men wait to be saved from the burning building.

Fareed Khan / AP

A woman mourns the death of a family member outside a mortuary in Karachi, Pakistan, on September 12, 2012. Flames raced through a garment factory in the city on Tuesday night, killing at least 100 people.

Asif Hassan / AFP - Getty Images

Locals watch the rescue operation outside the burnt garment factory in Karachi on September 12, 2012.

By NBC News staff and wire reports — At least 261 people burnt to death as fires swept through two factories in Pakistan, police and government officials said on Wednesday, raising questions about industrial safety in the nuclear-armed South Asian nation.

Slideshow: A nation in turmoil

Flames raced through a garment factory in the teeming commercial capital of Karachi, killing 236 people. Weeping relatives in hospitals and morgues heaped criticism on the deeply unpopular government. In Lahore, a fire raged in a shoe factory, killing at least 25 people. Read the full story.

Fareed Khan / AP

A woman looks for a missing family member at a morgue in Karachi on September 12, 2012.

Athar Hussain / Reuters

Relatives mourn their loved ones, who were killed in a fire at a garment factory, after their bodies were brought to the Jinnah hospital morgue in Karachi on September 12, 2012.

Arif Ali / AFP - Getty Images

Rescuers collect evidence in a shoe-making factory following a fire which gutted the factory the previous night in Lahore, Pakistan on September 12, 2012.

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Akhtar Soomro / Reuters

Zakir, 10, pauses during his work of cutting fish at Karachi's Fish Harbor on Feb. 1, 2012. Zakir earns $2.20 per day. Rising food and fuel prices and a struggling economy have forced many families to send their children to work instead of school.

Faisal Mahmood / Reuters

Simon, 12, holds a light to assist his supervisor working on a motorcycle engine at a workshop in Islamabad on Jan. 31, 2011. Simon earns 22 cents per day working as a workshop helper.

Reuters reports: Tears tracing lines of dirt on his face, six-year-old Pakistani boy Nabeel Mukhtar cries while crouching on a pavement to scrub motorbikes, his job for nine hours a day, six days a week in Islamabad, Pakistan.

"From the bottom of my heart, I want to send my son to school but we have so many expenses ... We struggle to put food on our table," said Mukhtar's mother, Shazia, who also has a four-year-old son and a two-year-old daughter.

"He's learning to work and he also earns around 300-400 rupees. So what's wrong in that? We are poor," Mohammed said of the boy.

Meanwhile in Lahore, Pakistan the death toll from the collapse of a three-story factory rose to 17 on Tuesday as rescuers searched for survivors in the rubble. A gas explosion caused the building to collapse on Monday, trapping dozens of laborers, mostly boys aged 14 – 14 inside.

Governance in Pakistan is described as too corrupt and inept to tackle an array of problems, from struggling industries and child labor problems to Taliban insurgents who carry out suicide bombings across the South Asian nation.

Related PhotoBlog posts:

• Pakistan's railways driven toward ruin
• Factory collapse in Pakistan traps dozens
• Gunmen set fuel trucks ablaze in Pakistan
• See more images of Pakistan in our slideshow: A nation in turmoil.

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AP reports— Rescue workers struggled to reach dozens of people trapped in the rubble of a factory that collapsed in an eastern Pakistani city Monday, killing at least four, officials said.

The factory, which manufactured medicine, had been set up illegally in a residential area of Lahore and caved in after several gas cylinders inside exploded, said the city's deputy commissioner, Ahad Cheema. Authorities had previously closed the factory three times, but each time it reopened.

The factory was owned by a local politician, who used his influence to keep it open despite complaints from neighbors, said local resident Munawar Ali. 

Mohsin Raza / Reuters

Residents and rescue workers comb rubble of a three-story factory building, which collapsed in Lahore on Feb. 6.

K.M. Chaudary / AP

Pakistani rescue workers carry a woman recovered from the debris of a collapsed building in Lahore, Pakistan, on Monday, Feb. 6.

Read the full story...

This looks like a good way to develop accuracy when it comes to batting and bowling.

Arif Ali / AFP - Getty Images

Pakistani youths play cricket at a closed spare parts market in Lahore on June 19. The International Monetary Fund has urged Pakistan to take further steps to curb inflation and buffer the economic shocks of higher oil prices.