Devastating Clothing Factory Fire in the South Asian nation Has Taken a Minimum of 16 Lives
A minimum of 16 persons have lost their lives after a huge fire broke out at a garment factory in Bangladesh, with officials stating that the number of victims could rise.
16 bodies have been retrieved but were incinerated unrecognizable, the firefighters reported.
Heartbroken relatives gathered outside the four-storey factory in the Mirpur district of Dhaka on Tuesday in looking for their family members still not found.
The inferno, which started at the factory around noon, was brought under control after several hours. But an neighboring chemical warehouse kept burning, emergency services reported.
Until 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) that day, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been completely doused, journalistic accounts indicated.
Fire service officials have not ascertained which of the two buildings ignited initially.
Per witnesses, the chemical warehouse contained industrial bleaches, plastic materials and hydrogen peroxide, all of which can accelerate fires. Synthetic materials also releases toxic fumes when ignited.
Law enforcement and armed forces are still searching for the operators of the factory and the warehouse, fire service director the fire service official informed the media.
An probe on whether the warehouse was operating legally is also currently underway, he added.
Crying family members waited outside the fire-damaged buildings, many of them holding photographs of their missing relatives.
Among them is a man looking frantically for his daughter, his loved one.
"When I was informed of the fire, I hurried to the scene. But I still haven't found her... I just want my child back," he expressed to journalists.
The catastrophic occurrence has another time underscored the hazardous conditions plaguing Bangladesh's garment industry, which engages millions of workers and is a crucial provider of economic income for the nation.
