Devastating Clothing Factory Inferno in the South Asian nation Has Taken no Fewer than 16 Lives
A minimum of 16 people have lost their lives after a enormous fire erupted at a clothing factory in Bangladesh, with emergency services cautioning that the death toll could climb.
Sixteen bodies have been retrieved but were incinerated unrecognizable, the firefighters reported.
Heartbroken relatives gathered outside the multi-story factory in the Mirpur district of Dhaka on Tuesday in seeking their loved ones still unaccounted for.
The inferno, which broke out at the factory around lunchtime, was extinguished after several hours. But an adjacent chemical warehouse continued to burn, authorities said.
As late as 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Tuesday, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been completely doused, news sources indicated.
Fire service officials have not established which of the two buildings caught fire first.
According to bystanders, the chemical warehouse stored industrial bleaches, synthetic polymers and chemical peroxide, all of which can intensify fires. Polymer products also emits toxic fumes when burned.
Security personnel are still searching for the owners of the factory and the warehouse, emergency services head the department director briefed journalists.
An probe on whether the warehouse was running according to regulations is also currently underway, he noted.
Tearful family members gathered outside the fire-damaged buildings, many of them holding photographs of their lost relatives.
Present at the scene is a man seeking urgently for his daughter, his family member.
"When I heard about the fire, I came running. But I still cannot locate her... I just want my child back," he stated to journalists.
The tragic incident has another time highlighted the hazardous conditions plaguing Bangladesh's apparel manufacturing, which provides jobs for millions of workers and is a major source of economic income for the South Asian economy.
