Factory fire puts spotlight on working conditions in Philippines

Protesters hold placards calling for a justice for the workers who were killed in a factory, during a mass outside a funeral home in Valenzuela city, north of Manila May 15, 2015. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

MANILA (Reuters) - A fire that killed 72 people in a rubber slipper factory in the Philippines on Wednesday has shone a spotlight on what trade unions say are the often unsafe working conditions in Southeast Asia's fastest-growing country.

The fire, which gutted the two-storey factory in the capital, Manila, started when sparks from a welding machine set ablaze flammable chemicals. It was one of the country's worst industrial fires.