Deadly Apparel Factory Fire in Bangladesh Claims at Least 16 Fatalities
No fewer than 16 individuals have lost their lives after a huge fire broke out at a garment factory in Bangladesh, with emergency services warning that the number of victims could climb.
A total of sixteen bodies have been found but were charred impossible to identify, the firefighters reported.
Grief-stricken relatives converged outside the multi-story factory in Dhaka's Mirpur area on Tuesday in search of their loved ones still not found.
The inferno, which started at the factory around noon, was put out after multiple hours. But an neighboring chemical warehouse remained ablaze, emergency services said.
Up until 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) that day, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been completely doused, journalistic accounts said.
Fire department authorities have not established which of the two buildings was the origin point.
According to witnesses, the chemical warehouse housed chemical bleaching agents, plastic and chemical peroxide, all of which can worsen fires. Polymer products also emits toxic fumes when burned.
Law enforcement and armed forces are still attempting to find the operators of the factory and the warehouse, emergency services head the department director briefed journalists.
An probe on whether the warehouse was operating legally is also in progress, he noted.
Weeping family members waited outside the fire-damaged buildings, many of them holding photographs of their unaccounted for relatives.
Included in the crowd is a man seeking urgently for his daughter, his loved one.
"When I was informed of the fire, I hurried to the scene. But I still cannot locate her... I just want my loved one back," he expressed to news media.
The tragic incident has yet again highlighted the safety concerns plaguing Bangladesh's clothing sector, which employs millions of workers and is a crucial source of foreign revenue for the South Asian economy.
