Deadly Garment Factory Blaze in Bangladesh Has Taken at Least 16 Lives
A minimum of 16 people have perished after a huge fire started at a clothing factory in Bangladesh, with emergency services stating that the fatality count could rise.
16 bodies have been retrieved but were charred impossible to identify, the fire service said.
Distraught relatives converged outside the multi-story factory in Dhaka's Mirpur area on that day in seeking their family members still unaccounted for.
The fire, which started at the factory around noon, was brought under control after three hours. But an neighboring chemical warehouse kept burning, emergency services reported.
Until 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Tuesday, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been completely doused, media reports indicated.
Fire service officials have not established which of the two buildings caught fire first.
Per witnesses, the chemical warehouse housed chemical bleaching agents, plastic materials and chemical peroxide, all of which can worsen fires. Plastic also emits hazardous smoke when ignited.
Police and military officers are still trying to locate the proprietors of the factory and the warehouse, fire department chief Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury informed journalists.
An inquiry on whether the warehouse was running according to regulations is also ongoing, he noted.
Weeping family members waited outside the burned buildings, many of them grasping photographs of their unaccounted for relatives.
Present at the scene is a man looking frantically for his daughter, Farzana Akhter.
"When I was informed of the fire, I came running. But I still cannot locate her... I just want my loved one back," he stated to reporters.
The devastating event has another time highlighted the safety concerns facing Bangladesh's clothing sector, which engages millions of workers and is a significant provider of economic income for the South Asian economy.
