At least 16 people were killed and several injured after a fire consumed a garment factory and a chemical warehouse in Bangladesh’s capital on Tuesday.
Fire service official Talha bin Jashim said that 16 bodies had been recovered from the second and third floors of the garment factory in Dhaka’s Mirpur area, adding the toll could rise as search and rescue operations continued.
“We suspect that all of them have died after inhaling toxic gas,” he said.
The bodies were burnt beyond recognition and would be handed over to the relatives after DNA tests, Mr Jashim added.
The fire erupted at around 11.45am local time and 12 firefighting units were deployed to combat the blaze, the official said, adding that the fire was brought under control by the evening.
The cause of the blaze wasn’t immediately known, fire service director Tajul Islam Chowdhury said.
The fire started on the third floor of the seven-story garment factory in Mirpur before spreading to the warehouse storing bleaching powder, plastic, and hydrogen peroxide, the Fire Service and Civil Defence Department said.
Mr Jashim said firefighters brought the factory blaze under control after nearly three hours, though the fire at the warehouse continued.
The injured, including three severely burnt people, were admitted to the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in Dhaka.
Grief-stricken relatives gathered outside the garment factory looking for their loved ones, some clutching photographs. In front of the blackened ruins, a father searched desperately for his daughter, Farzana Akhter.
“My daughter worked there. When I heard about the fire, I came running. But I still haven’t found her,” he told Reuters. “I just want my daughter back.”
Fire service officials said local Dhaka police and the army were trying to locate the owners of the factories.
Mr Chowdhury said neither the garment factory nor the chemical warehouse had approval or any fire safety plan.
It appeared the garment factory had a tin roof with a grilled door that was kept locked, he said.
“The workers couldn’t reach the upper level,” Mr Chowdhury added. “The chemical explosion caused a flashover that released toxic gas, leaving many unconscious and trapping them inside. They couldn’t escape either upward or downward.”
Bangladesh has the world’s second-largest garment industry, after China, with the sector employing about 4 million workers, mostly women.
The industry, which earns the South Asian country nearly £30bn a year from exports, mainly to the US and Europe, has a history of industrial accidents and fires blamed on lax monitoring and violation of building codes.
In 2021, at least 52 people were killed in a fire at a food and drink factory. In 2012, one of the worst fire accidents in the country left 112 workers dead at Tazreen Fashions, a garment factory that supplied global brands.
