Tragic Garment Factory Inferno in Bangladesh Has Taken a Minimum of 16 Fatalities
At least 16 persons have died after a massive fire started at a garment factory in Bangladesh, with officials warning that the number of victims could climb.
16 bodies have been found but were charred impossible to identify, the firefighters stated.
Distraught relatives assembled outside the four-level factory in Mirpur, Dhaka on Tuesday in looking for their dear ones still not found.
The blaze, which broke out at the factory around noon, was extinguished after three hours. But an adjacent chemical warehouse remained ablaze, 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, media reports indicated.
Fire service officials have not established which of the two buildings was the origin point.
According to eyewitnesses, the chemical warehouse contained chemical bleaching agents, plastic materials and industrial peroxide, all of which can accelerate fires. Synthetic materials also emits hazardous smoke when ignited.
Police and military officers are still attempting to find the operators of the factory and the warehouse, fire department chief Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury told reporters.
An investigation on whether the warehouse was running according to regulations is also ongoing, he added.
Crying family members waited outside the burned buildings, many of them holding photographs of their missing relatives.
Present at the scene is a man looking frantically for his daughter, his family member.
"When I heard about the fire, I came running. But I still cannot locate her... I just want my loved one back," he told journalists.
The catastrophic occurrence has yet again emphasized the hazardous conditions affecting Bangladesh's clothing sector, which employs millions of workers and is a major source of export earnings for the South Asian economy.
