Deadly Garment Factory Inferno in Bangladesh Takes no Fewer than 16 Lives
No fewer than 16 persons have died after a massive fire erupted at a clothing factory in Bangladesh, with emergency services warning that the number of victims could climb.
Sixteen bodies have been recovered but were incinerated unrecognizable, the firefighters reported.
Grief-stricken relatives converged outside the four-storey factory in Dhaka's Mirpur area on that day in seeking their family members still unaccounted for.
The inferno, which erupted at the factory around noon, was extinguished after three hours. But an nearby chemical warehouse kept burning, 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, news sources reported.
Emergency responders have not determined which of the two buildings caught fire first.
Based on eyewitnesses, the chemical warehouse contained bleaching powder, synthetic polymers and chemical peroxide, all of which can worsen fires. Plastic also produces toxic fumes when combusted.
Law enforcement and armed forces are still searching for the proprietors of the factory and the warehouse, emergency services head the department director informed reporters.
An probe on whether the warehouse was operating legally is also in progress, he added.
Tearful family members gathered outside the charred buildings, many of them clutching photographs of their lost relatives.
Included in the crowd is a man looking frantically for his daughter, his loved one.
"When I heard about the fire, I hurried to the scene. But I still have been unable to find her... I just want my loved one back," he told reporters.
The tragic incident has yet again underscored the safety concerns affecting Bangladesh's apparel manufacturing, which provides jobs for numerous of workers and is a significant source of foreign revenue for the South Asian economy.
