Devastating Garment Factory Blaze in Bangladesh Claims no Fewer than 16 Lives
A minimum of 16 persons have died after a massive fire started at a apparel factory in Bangladesh, with officials cautioning that the number of victims could increase.
Sixteen bodies have been retrieved but were charred unrecognizable, the fire department said.
Heartbroken relatives converged outside the four-storey factory in Dhaka's Mirpur area on that day in seeking their family members still unaccounted for.
The fire, which broke out at the factory around midday, was brought under control after multiple hours. But an neighboring chemical warehouse continued to burn, authorities said.
Up until 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) that day, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been completely doused, journalistic accounts indicated.
Fire department authorities have not established which of the two buildings caught fire first.
Based on witnesses, the chemical warehouse housed bleaching powder, plastic and hydrogen peroxide, all of which can worsen fires. Synthetic materials also releases toxic fumes when combusted.
Law enforcement and armed forces are still searching for the owners of the factory and the warehouse, fire service director the fire service official informed the media.
An probe on whether the warehouse was running according to regulations is also in progress, he added.
Tearful family members waited outside the charred buildings, many of them holding photographs of their lost relatives.
Included in the crowd is a man looking frantically for his daughter, his loved one.
"When I was informed of the fire, I came running. But I still cannot locate her... I just want my loved one back," he stated to news media.
The catastrophic occurrence has yet again emphasized the hazardous conditions facing Bangladesh's garment industry, which engages countless of workers and is a crucial provider of foreign revenue for the country.
