Devastating Clothing Factory Inferno in Bangladesh Has Taken a Minimum of 16 Lives
A minimum of 16 persons have died after a massive fire started at a apparel factory in Bangladesh, with emergency services cautioning that the death toll could rise.
16 bodies have been found but were charred unrecognizable, the fire department stated.
Grief-stricken relatives assembled outside the four-storey factory in the Mirpur district of Dhaka on Tuesday in search of their family members still unaccounted for.
The blaze, which started at the factory around lunchtime, was extinguished after several hours. But an neighboring chemical warehouse remained ablaze, authorities confirmed.
As late as 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) that day, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been fully extinguished, news sources reported.
Emergency responders have not determined which of the two buildings caught fire first.
Per eyewitnesses, the chemical warehouse contained chemical bleaching agents, synthetic polymers and hydrogen peroxide, all of which can accelerate fires. Plastic also produces toxic fumes when ignited.
Security personnel are still searching for the owners of the factory and the warehouse, fire department chief the department director told the media.
An inquiry on whether the warehouse was functioning with proper authorization is also currently underway, he mentioned.
Weeping family members stood outside the charred buildings, many of them grasping photographs of their unaccounted for relatives.
Present at the scene is a man seeking urgently for his daughter, his family member.
"When I learned of the fire, I came running. But I still cannot locate her... I just want my child back," he expressed to journalists.
The catastrophic occurrence has another time underscored the safety concerns affecting Bangladesh's apparel manufacturing, which engages countless of workers and is a significant source of export earnings for the nation.
