Deadly Garment Factory Inferno in Bangladesh Claims at Least 16 Lives
No fewer than 16 people have died after a enormous fire erupted at a garment factory in Bangladesh, with emergency services warning that the fatality count could climb.
Sixteen bodies have been recovered but were incinerated impossible to identify, the firefighters stated.
Grief-stricken relatives converged outside the four-storey factory in the Mirpur district of Dhaka on Tuesday in seeking their dear ones still unaccounted for.
The inferno, which broke out at the factory around lunchtime, was brought under control after multiple hours. But an nearby chemical warehouse kept burning, authorities reported.
Up until 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) that day, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been completely doused, news sources reported.
Emergency responders have not established which of the two buildings caught fire first.
According to witnesses, the chemical warehouse housed bleaching powder, plastic materials and chemical peroxide, all of which can intensify fires. Synthetic materials also emits poisonous gases when burned.
Security personnel are still searching for the owners of the factory and the warehouse, fire department chief the fire service official informed reporters.
An inquiry on whether the warehouse was operating legally is also currently underway, he mentioned.
Tearful family members gathered outside the fire-damaged buildings, many of them grasping photographs of their lost relatives.
Included in the crowd is a man seeking urgently for his daughter, his family member.
"When I heard about the fire, I rushed here. But I still cannot locate her... I just want my daughter back," he expressed to news media.
The catastrophic occurrence has yet again underscored the hazardous conditions plaguing Bangladesh's garment industry, which engages millions of workers and is a crucial source of export earnings for the nation.
