Devastating Clothing Factory Inferno in Bangladesh Claims no Fewer than 16 Victims
At least 16 individuals have died after a massive fire erupted at a clothing factory in Bangladesh, with emergency services warning that the number of victims could climb.
16 bodies have been retrieved but were burned unrecognizable, the fire department reported.
Grief-stricken relatives converged outside the four-storey factory in Mirpur, Dhaka on that day in looking for their family members still not found.
The fire, which broke out at the factory around midday, was extinguished after multiple hours. But an adjacent chemical warehouse kept burning, officials reported.
Up until 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Tuesday, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been entirely put out, news sources said.
Fire service officials have not determined which of the two buildings caught fire first.
Per witnesses, the chemical warehouse contained bleaching powder, plastic materials and industrial peroxide, all of which can intensify fires. Polymer products also emits toxic fumes when ignited.
Law enforcement and armed forces are still searching for the owners of the factory and the warehouse, fire service director the department director informed the media.
An inquiry on whether the warehouse was operating legally is also currently underway, he mentioned.
Weeping family members gathered outside the fire-damaged buildings, many of them clutching photographs of their lost relatives.
Present at the scene is a man looking frantically for his daughter, his loved one.
"When I heard about the fire, I came running. But I still have been unable to find her... I just want my daughter back," he expressed to news media.
The tragic incident has yet again emphasized the security issues plaguing Bangladesh's clothing sector, which provides jobs for countless of workers and is a crucial provider of export earnings for the South Asian economy.
