Tragic Apparel Factory Fire in Bangladesh Claims no Fewer than 16 Lives
A minimum of 16 individuals have died after a massive fire started at a garment factory in Bangladesh, with officials stating that the death toll could climb.
Sixteen bodies have been retrieved but were incinerated unrecognizable, the fire service reported.
Heartbroken relatives gathered outside the multi-story factory in Dhaka's Mirpur area on that day in seeking their family members still not found.
The fire, which erupted at the factory around midday, was put out after three hours. But an nearby chemical warehouse continued to burn, emergency services reported.
Up until 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) that day, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been entirely put out, media reports said.
Emergency responders have not established which of the two buildings was the origin point.
Per bystanders, the chemical warehouse housed bleaching powder, synthetic polymers and chemical peroxide, all of which can intensify fires. Plastic also produces poisonous gases when burned.
Law enforcement and armed forces are still attempting to find the proprietors of the factory and the warehouse, emergency services head Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury informed journalists.
An inquiry on whether the warehouse was operating legally is also ongoing, he mentioned.
Crying family members gathered outside the burned buildings, many of them clutching photographs of their missing relatives.
Among them is a man looking frantically for his daughter, his loved one.
"When I heard about the fire, I came running. But I still cannot locate her... I just want my daughter back," he expressed to news media.
The catastrophic occurrence has once again underscored the safety concerns plaguing Bangladesh's apparel manufacturing, which provides jobs for countless of workers and is a major provider of export earnings for the country.
