Bangladesh is in grief and anguish, as no fewer than 16 persons have been declared dead after a huge fire broke out at a garment factory in Bangladesh, with officials warning that the number of dead people could rise in the coming minutes, hours and days.
At the time.of filing this report, JESNews reports that sixteen bodies have been recovered but were burned beyond recognition, the fire service said.
Distraught relatives gathered outside the four-storey factory in Dhaka’s Mirpur area on Tuesday in search of their loved ones still missing.
The blaze, which broke out at the factory around midday, was extinguished after three hours. But an adjacent chemical warehouse continued to burn, authorities said.
Up until 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) yesterday, the inferno at the chemical warehouse had not been completely doused, media reports said.
Officials of the fire service have not determined which of the two buildings was first ignited by the inferno.
Eyewitnesses on ground stated that the chemical warehouse stored bleaching powder, plastic and hydrogen peroxide, all of which can intensify fires. Plastic also releases toxic fumes when burned.
Fire service director Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury told journalists that
Police and military officers are still attempting to locate the owners of the factory and the warehouse,
A probe to determine if the warehouse was operating legally is also ongoing, said the director of the Fire service Chowdhury.
Tearful family members stood outside the charred buildings, many of them cluting photographs of their missing relatives.
Among them is a man searching desperately for his daughter, Farzana Akhter.
“When I heard about the fire, I came running. But I still haven’t found her….I just want my daughter back,” he told Reuters news agency.
For context, Bangladesh is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of ready-made garments. The industry offers employment to millions of workers, most of whom are women. Working standards have improved since the collapse in 2013 of Rana Plaza, , a building that housed several factories, killed no fewer than 1,000 workers, but deadly fires are still frequently reported by the local media in the country
