Devastating Clothing Factory Inferno in Bangladesh Takes a Minimum of 16 Fatalities
A minimum of 16 people have lost their lives after a enormous fire started at a clothing factory in Bangladesh, with officials cautioning that the fatality count could rise.
Sixteen bodies have been retrieved but were charred beyond recognition, the fire service stated.
Distraught relatives gathered outside the four-level factory in the Mirpur district of Dhaka on that day in search of their dear ones still unaccounted for.
The fire, which started at the factory around noon, was extinguished after multiple hours. But an neighboring chemical warehouse kept burning, emergency services reported.
Up until 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Tuesday, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been fully extinguished, journalistic accounts indicated.
Fire service officials have not determined which of the two buildings caught fire first.
Per eyewitnesses, the chemical warehouse contained chemical bleaching agents, plastic and chemical peroxide, all of which can accelerate fires. Synthetic materials also emits hazardous smoke 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 briefed the media.
An investigation on whether the warehouse was functioning with proper authorization is also in progress, he mentioned.
Tearful family members waited outside the charred buildings, many of them grasping photographs of their unaccounted for relatives.
Included in the crowd is a man seeking urgently for his daughter, his loved one.
"When I was informed of the fire, I rushed here. But I still cannot locate her... I just want my child back," he expressed to reporters.
The catastrophic occurrence has yet again underscored the security issues affecting Bangladesh's clothing sector, which provides jobs for numerous of workers and is a major provider of economic income for the country.
