Devastating Garment Factory Inferno in Bangladesh Has Taken no Fewer than 16 Victims
A minimum of 16 persons have perished after a massive fire erupted at a clothing factory in Bangladesh, with emergency services warning that the death toll could rise.
A total of sixteen bodies have been retrieved but were burned unrecognizable, the fire department reported.
Grief-stricken relatives assembled outside the multi-story factory in Dhaka's Mirpur area on Tuesday in looking for their dear ones still not found.
The inferno, which erupted at the factory around lunchtime, was put out after several hours. But an nearby chemical warehouse remained ablaze, authorities reported.
As late as 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) that day, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been fully extinguished, journalistic accounts said.
Fire department authorities have not ascertained which of the two buildings was the origin point.
Based on eyewitnesses, the chemical warehouse contained chemical bleaching agents, plastic and hydrogen peroxide, all of which can intensify 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, emergency services head Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury briefed reporters.
An probe on whether the warehouse was running according to regulations is also in progress, he added.
Crying family members waited outside the charred buildings, many of them grasping photographs of their unaccounted for relatives.
Among them is a man seeking urgently for his daughter, his family member.
"When I learned of the fire, I came running. But I still haven't found her... I just want my child back," he expressed to journalists.
The tragic incident has yet again emphasized the safety concerns affecting Bangladesh's apparel manufacturing, which provides jobs for countless of workers and is a significant contributor to export earnings for the South Asian economy.
