Deadly Garment Factory Blaze in Bangladesh Has Taken no Fewer than 16 Victims
At least 16 people have perished after a huge fire started at a garment factory in Bangladesh, with officials cautioning that the fatality count could increase.
16 bodies have been retrieved but were burned impossible to identify, the fire department stated.
Grief-stricken relatives assembled outside the four-storey factory in Dhaka's Mirpur area on Tuesday in looking for their loved ones still unaccounted for.
The inferno, which started at the factory around lunchtime, was brought under control after three hours. But an adjacent chemical warehouse continued to burn, officials reported.
Until 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Tuesday, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been completely doused, news sources reported.
Emergency responders have not established which of the two buildings was the origin point.
According to eyewitnesses, the chemical warehouse housed chemical bleaching agents, plastic and chemical peroxide, all of which can accelerate fires. Synthetic materials also releases poisonous gases when burned.
Security personnel are still trying to locate the owners of the factory and the warehouse, fire service director the fire service official briefed the media.
An investigation on whether the warehouse was functioning with proper authorization is also in progress, he noted.
Crying family members waited outside the burned buildings, many of them holding photographs of their lost relatives.
Included in the crowd is a man looking frantically 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 reporters.
The devastating event has yet again underscored the security issues facing Bangladesh's apparel manufacturing, which provides jobs for numerous of workers and is a major provider of foreign revenue for the nation.
