Tragic Clothing Factory Blaze in Bangladesh Claims no Fewer than 16 Lives
At least 16 individuals have died after a enormous fire broke out at a apparel factory in Bangladesh, with emergency services cautioning that the number of victims could rise.
Sixteen bodies have been found but were burned impossible to identify, the fire department said.
Distraught relatives converged outside the four-level factory in Dhaka's Mirpur area on that day in seeking their family members still unaccounted for.
The fire, which broke out at the factory around midday, was extinguished after three hours. But an neighboring chemical warehouse remained ablaze, emergency services said.
As late as 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Tuesday, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been fully extinguished, journalistic accounts indicated.
Emergency responders have not ascertained which of the two buildings caught fire first.
Per witnesses, the chemical warehouse housed bleaching powder, plastic and industrial peroxide, all of which can intensify fires. Plastic also produces poisonous gases when ignited.
Law enforcement and armed forces are still searching for the operators of the factory and the warehouse, fire department chief the fire service official briefed the media.
An inquiry on whether the warehouse was running according to regulations is also ongoing, he noted.
Tearful family members waited outside the fire-damaged buildings, many of them grasping photographs of their missing relatives.
Included in the crowd is a man looking frantically for his daughter, Farzana Akhter.
"When I learned of the fire, I rushed here. But I still have been unable to find her... I just want my child back," he told news media.
The devastating event has another time underscored the hazardous conditions facing Bangladesh's apparel manufacturing, which employs millions of workers and is a major contributor to foreign revenue for the nation.
