Devastating Garment Factory Blaze in Bangladesh Has Taken a Minimum of 16 Lives
A minimum of 16 individuals have perished after a enormous fire erupted at a apparel factory in Bangladesh, with authorities cautioning that the fatality count could climb.
A total of sixteen bodies have been found but were burned impossible to identify, the firefighters reported.
Heartbroken relatives assembled outside the four-level factory in Mirpur, Dhaka on Tuesday in seeking their family members still missing.
The blaze, which erupted at the factory around lunchtime, was put out after three hours. But an adjacent chemical warehouse continued to burn, authorities confirmed.
Up until 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Tuesday, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been fully extinguished, media reports reported.
Fire service officials have not established which of the two buildings caught fire first.
Per bystanders, the chemical warehouse housed industrial bleaches, plastic and industrial peroxide, all of which can worsen fires. Polymer products also produces poisonous gases when ignited.
Security personnel are still trying to locate the owners of the factory and the warehouse, fire department chief the fire service official briefed journalists.
An probe on whether the warehouse was operating legally is also in progress, he added.
Weeping family members stood outside the charred buildings, many of them holding photographs of their unaccounted for relatives.
Among them is a man searching desperately for his daughter, his family member.
"When I was informed of the fire, I came running. But I still cannot locate her... I just want my child back," he stated to journalists.
The catastrophic occurrence has once again highlighted the safety concerns affecting Bangladesh's clothing sector, which provides jobs for millions of workers and is a crucial provider of export earnings for the South Asian economy.