Tragic Clothing Factory Inferno in the South Asian nation Has Taken a Minimum of 16 Victims
A minimum of 16 persons have perished after a enormous fire started at a apparel factory in Bangladesh, with emergency services warning that the death toll could climb.
A total of sixteen bodies have been retrieved but were incinerated beyond recognition, the firefighters said.
Distraught relatives converged outside the four-storey factory in Dhaka's Mirpur area on that day in search of their family members still not found.
The inferno, which broke out at the factory around midday, was put out after three hours. But an nearby chemical warehouse remained ablaze, emergency services confirmed.
Up until 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) that day, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been entirely put out, journalistic accounts reported.
Fire department authorities have not established which of the two buildings ignited initially.
Based on eyewitnesses, the chemical warehouse housed bleaching powder, plastic materials and chemical peroxide, all of which can worsen fires. Plastic also releases hazardous smoke when combusted.
Police and military officers are still searching for the owners of the factory and the warehouse, emergency services head the fire service official told journalists.
An investigation on whether the warehouse was running according to regulations is also in progress, he mentioned.
Crying 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 loved one.
"When I learned of the fire, I came running. But I still have been unable to find her... I just want my daughter back," he expressed to journalists.
The catastrophic occurrence has yet again emphasized the hazardous conditions plaguing Bangladesh's garment industry, which engages millions of workers and is a major source of export earnings for the country.
