Devastating Apparel Factory Blaze in Bangladesh Has Taken a Minimum of 16 Lives
No fewer than 16 individuals have lost their lives after a enormous fire erupted at a garment factory in Bangladesh, with emergency services cautioning that the fatality count could rise.
Sixteen bodies have been found but were charred unrecognizable, the firefighters stated.
Grief-stricken relatives assembled outside the four-level factory in Mirpur, Dhaka on that day in search of their family members still not found.
The inferno, which erupted at the factory around lunchtime, was put out after several hours. But an adjacent chemical warehouse continued to burn, emergency services reported.
As late as 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) that day, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been fully extinguished, news sources reported.
Emergency responders have not established which of the two buildings caught fire first.
According to bystanders, the chemical warehouse housed chemical bleaching agents, plastic materials and chemical peroxide, all of which can accelerate fires. Synthetic materials also releases hazardous smoke when ignited.
Law enforcement and armed forces are still searching for the operators of the factory and the warehouse, fire department chief the fire service official briefed journalists.
An inquiry on whether the warehouse was operating legally is also in progress, he noted.
Weeping family members waited outside the charred buildings, many of them grasping photographs of their unaccounted for relatives.
Present at the scene is a man searching desperately for his daughter, his loved one.
"When I was informed of the fire, I came running. But I still have been unable to find her... I just want my loved one back," he stated to journalists.
The catastrophic occurrence has another time emphasized the safety concerns facing Bangladesh's apparel manufacturing, which employs numerous of workers and is a major contributor to foreign revenue for the country.
