Lucknow, Dec 18 - At least two people were burnt to death, while eight others received injuries when a fire broke out at a pharmaceutical factory in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district, police said Friday.

The fire broke out Friday morning at the Meghna Factory, which was also involved in processing drugs for India's prominent drug maker Ranbaxy in the Mansoorpur industrial area of Muzaffarnagar, about 350 km from here, they added.

"Though the exact cause behind the incident is yet to be ascertained, preliminary investigations reveal the mishap could have taken place due to a short-circuit in the factory," Muzaffarnagar police chief Praveen Kumar told IANS over telephone.

"The two people killed in the incident were labourers of the factory," he added.

According to police, the condition of four of the eight injured is critical.

As many as six fire tenders were pressed into service to control the blaze. It took over three hours to douse the flames, police added.

"Chemicals stored at the factory fuelled the fire and it took more than three hours to put out the blaze," Deputy Superintendent of Police Dev Karan said. (IANS)