Deadly Garment Factory Blaze in the South Asian nation Takes no Fewer than 16 Victims
No fewer than 16 persons have lost their lives after a massive fire broke out at a apparel factory in Bangladesh, with emergency services warning that the number of victims could rise.
A total of sixteen bodies have been found but were burned beyond recognition, the fire service said.
Heartbroken relatives converged outside the four-level factory in Mirpur, Dhaka on that day in looking for their loved ones still missing.
The fire, which broke out at the factory around noon, was put out after multiple hours. But an nearby chemical warehouse continued to burn, authorities confirmed.
Up until 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) that day, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been fully extinguished, journalistic accounts said.
Emergency responders have not ascertained which of the two buildings was the origin point.
According to eyewitnesses, the chemical warehouse contained chemical bleaching agents, synthetic polymers and chemical peroxide, all of which can worsen fires. Polymer products also produces poisonous gases when burned.
Law enforcement and armed forces are still attempting to find the operators of the factory and the warehouse, fire service director the department director informed the media.
An probe on whether the warehouse was operating legally is also ongoing, he mentioned.
Crying family members waited outside the burned buildings, many of them holding photographs of their unaccounted for relatives.
Among them is a man looking frantically for his daughter, Farzana Akhter.
"When I heard about the fire, I came running. But I still cannot locate her... I just want my daughter back," he stated to reporters.
The catastrophic occurrence has another time highlighted the security issues affecting Bangladesh's clothing sector, which engages millions of workers and is a significant contributor to export earnings for the South Asian economy.
