The bodies of victims who died in a shanty town fire lie on a hospital floor in Karachi yesterday as helpless paramedics look on.

At least 40 people were killed, more than half of them children, when a fire tore through dozens of homes.

Initial reports said the blaze was sparked by a power wire that fell onto the roofs of the huts.

City police official Majid Dasti said Pakistani investigators were also looking into the possibility that residents had started a small fire to beat the cold, and that the wind whipped the flames out of control.