Deadly Garment Factory Blaze in the South Asian nation Has Taken no Fewer than 16 Fatalities
No fewer than 16 persons have died after a huge fire started at a garment factory in Bangladesh, with emergency services stating that the fatality count could rise.
A total of sixteen bodies have been recovered but were incinerated impossible to identify, the firefighters reported.
Distraught relatives gathered outside the four-storey factory in Dhaka's Mirpur area on that day in search of their dear ones still missing.
The blaze, which started at the factory around noon, was extinguished after three hours. But an nearby chemical warehouse remained ablaze, emergency services reported.
As late as 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) that day, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been completely doused, media reports said.
Fire department authorities have not established which of the two buildings caught fire first.
Based on witnesses, the chemical warehouse contained chemical bleaching agents, plastic and chemical peroxide, all of which can accelerate fires. Synthetic materials also produces poisonous gases when burned.
Security personnel are still trying to locate the owners of the factory and the warehouse, fire service director Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury told journalists.
An probe on whether the warehouse was functioning with proper authorization is also currently underway, he noted.
Crying family members waited outside the charred buildings, many of them holding photographs of their unaccounted for relatives.
Present at the scene is a man searching desperately for his daughter, Farzana Akhter.
"When I heard about the fire, I rushed here. But I still haven't found her... I just want my child back," he expressed to journalists.
The catastrophic occurrence has yet again emphasized the safety concerns plaguing Bangladesh's clothing sector, which employs numerous of workers and is a significant source of foreign revenue for the country.
