Devastating Clothing Factory Inferno in Bangladesh Has Taken no Fewer than 16 Lives
No fewer than 16 individuals have perished after a huge fire started at a apparel factory in Bangladesh, with officials stating that the death toll could climb.
16 bodies have been recovered but were incinerated impossible to identify, the fire department said.
Distraught relatives converged 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 broke out at the factory around noon, was extinguished after three hours. But an nearby chemical warehouse kept burning, officials said.
Up until 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) that day, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been completely doused, media reports reported.
Fire department authorities have not ascertained which of the two buildings was the origin point.
Per eyewitnesses, the chemical warehouse stored chemical bleaching agents, synthetic polymers and chemical peroxide, all of which can accelerate fires. Plastic also emits hazardous smoke when ignited.
Security personnel are still trying to locate the operators of the factory and the warehouse, fire service director the fire service official told the media.
An probe on whether the warehouse was functioning with proper authorization is also in progress, he added.
Crying family members gathered outside the fire-damaged buildings, many of them clutching photographs of their missing relatives.
Included in the crowd is a man looking frantically for his daughter, Farzana Akhter.
"When I learned of the fire, I came running. But I still haven't found her... I just want my child back," he expressed to news media.
The catastrophic occurrence has yet again underscored the hazardous conditions affecting Bangladesh's garment industry, which engages countless of workers and is a crucial provider of economic income for the nation.