Devastating Clothing Factory Blaze in Bangladesh Has Taken a Minimum of 16 Victims
No fewer than 16 persons have lost their lives after a huge fire started at a garment factory in Bangladesh, with officials stating that the death toll could rise.
Sixteen bodies have been found but were burned impossible to identify, the fire service said.
Grief-stricken relatives converged outside the four-storey factory in the Mirpur district of Dhaka on Tuesday in looking for their loved ones still unaccounted for.
The blaze, which erupted at the factory around noon, was put out after three hours. But an nearby chemical warehouse kept burning, emergency services said.
Up until 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Tuesday, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been fully extinguished, news sources indicated.
Fire department authorities have not established which of the two buildings was the origin point.
Per bystanders, the chemical warehouse stored chemical bleaching agents, synthetic polymers and chemical peroxide, all of which can accelerate fires. Polymer products also produces poisonous gases when combusted.
Law enforcement and armed forces are still attempting to find the owners of the factory and the warehouse, fire service director the fire service official told journalists.
An probe on whether the warehouse was operating legally is also ongoing, he added.
Weeping family members waited outside the burned buildings, many of them holding photographs of their missing relatives.
Among them is a man seeking urgently for his daughter, his family member.
"When I was informed of the fire, I hurried to the scene. But I still haven't found her... I just want my daughter back," he expressed to reporters.
The catastrophic occurrence has another time highlighted the security issues plaguing Bangladesh's apparel manufacturing, which employs numerous of workers and is a crucial contributor to export earnings for the nation.
