Deadly Clothing Factory Inferno in the South Asian nation Has Taken at Least 16 Victims
A minimum of 16 persons have perished after a enormous fire broke out at a garment factory in Bangladesh, with emergency services cautioning that the fatality count could increase.
16 bodies have been recovered but were charred impossible to identify, the firefighters reported.
Grief-stricken relatives converged outside the four-storey factory in the Mirpur district of Dhaka on Tuesday in seeking their family members still missing.
The fire, which started at the factory around midday, was extinguished after three hours. But an nearby chemical warehouse continued to burn, emergency services said.
As late as 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Tuesday, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been completely doused, journalistic accounts said.
Fire service officials have not determined which of the two buildings ignited initially.
According to witnesses, the chemical warehouse contained bleaching powder, plastic and industrial peroxide, all of which can intensify fires. Polymer products also produces toxic fumes when burned.
Police and military officers are still searching for the operators of the factory and the warehouse, emergency services head the department director briefed journalists.
An probe on whether the warehouse was running according to regulations is also ongoing, he added.
Weeping family members stood outside the charred buildings, many of them grasping photographs of their lost relatives.
Present at the scene is a man looking frantically for his daughter, Farzana Akhter.
"When I heard about the fire, I rushed here. But I still have been unable to find her... I just want my child back," he told journalists.
The devastating event has once again underscored the security issues affecting Bangladesh's apparel manufacturing, which engages countless of workers and is a crucial source of foreign revenue for the country.
