Deadly Garment Factory Inferno in Bangladesh Has Taken a Minimum of 16 Fatalities
No fewer than 16 individuals have lost their lives after a enormous fire started at a apparel factory in Bangladesh, with authorities warning that the death toll could rise.
A total of sixteen bodies have been found but were burned beyond recognition, the fire service said.
Grief-stricken relatives converged outside the four-storey factory in the Mirpur district of Dhaka on that day in looking for their family members still missing.
The fire, which started at the factory around midday, was extinguished after multiple hours. But an adjacent chemical warehouse continued to burn, officials said.
As late as 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) that day, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been fully extinguished, journalistic accounts said.
Fire service officials have not ascertained which of the two buildings ignited initially.
According to witnesses, the chemical warehouse contained bleaching powder, plastic and chemical peroxide, all of which can intensify fires. Polymer products also releases hazardous smoke when ignited.
Law enforcement and armed forces are still trying to locate the proprietors of the factory and the warehouse, fire department chief the department director told the media.
An probe on whether the warehouse was operating legally is also in progress, he added.
Weeping family members waited outside the charred buildings, many of them clutching photographs of their missing relatives.
Among them is a man seeking urgently for his daughter, Farzana Akhter.
"When I heard about the fire, I rushed here. But I still cannot locate her... I just want my child back," he told reporters.
The tragic incident has yet again highlighted the security issues facing Bangladesh's garment industry, which provides jobs for numerous of workers and is a major source of export earnings for the nation.
