Devastating Apparel Factory Blaze in the South Asian nation Takes a Minimum of 16 Lives
No fewer than 16 persons have perished after a massive fire broke out at a garment factory in Bangladesh, with emergency services cautioning that the fatality count could rise.
Sixteen bodies have been recovered but were charred unrecognizable, the firefighters reported.
Distraught relatives gathered outside the four-storey factory in the Mirpur district of Dhaka on that day in search of their loved ones still unaccounted for.
The inferno, which broke out at the factory around midday, was put out 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 entirely put out, media reports reported.
Fire service officials have not ascertained which of the two buildings ignited initially.
According to eyewitnesses, the chemical warehouse stored chemical bleaching agents, plastic and chemical peroxide, all of which can intensify fires. Synthetic materials also emits poisonous gases when combusted.
Police and military officers are still searching for the operators of the factory and the warehouse, fire department chief the department director briefed the media.
An probe on whether the warehouse was running according to regulations is also currently underway, he mentioned.
Weeping family members waited outside the fire-damaged buildings, many of them holding photographs of their unaccounted for relatives.
Among them is a man looking frantically for his daughter, his loved one.
"When I was informed of the fire, I hurried to the scene. But I still cannot locate her... I just want my child back," he expressed to reporters.
The tragic incident has once again highlighted the security issues affecting Bangladesh's apparel manufacturing, which provides jobs for numerous of workers and is a crucial provider of export earnings for the South Asian economy.
