Tragic Apparel Factory Inferno in Bangladesh Claims no Fewer than 16 Victims
A minimum of 16 people have died after a massive fire erupted at a garment factory in Bangladesh, with officials stating that the fatality count could increase.
A total of sixteen bodies have been found but were incinerated unrecognizable, the firefighters said.
Distraught relatives converged outside the four-storey factory in Mirpur, Dhaka on that day in looking for their family members still unaccounted for.
The inferno, which started at the factory around noon, was extinguished after several hours. But an adjacent chemical warehouse kept burning, emergency services confirmed.
Up until 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Tuesday, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been fully extinguished, journalistic accounts reported.
Fire department authorities have not established which of the two buildings caught fire first.
Per witnesses, the chemical warehouse contained industrial bleaches, plastic and hydrogen peroxide, all of which can intensify fires. Synthetic materials also releases toxic fumes when combusted.
Security personnel are still searching for the proprietors of the factory and the warehouse, fire service director the fire service official told reporters.
An investigation on whether the warehouse was running according to regulations is also ongoing, he mentioned.
Weeping family members gathered outside the charred buildings, many of them grasping photographs of their missing relatives.
Among them is a man looking frantically for his daughter, his family member.
"When I heard about the fire, I hurried to the scene. But I still cannot locate her... I just want my child back," he told journalists.
The tragic incident has another time highlighted the safety concerns facing Bangladesh's clothing sector, which engages millions of workers and is a crucial provider of foreign revenue for the nation.
