Devastating Apparel Factory Inferno in the South Asian nation Claims a Minimum of 16 Fatalities
At least 16 people have perished after a enormous fire broke out at a apparel factory in Bangladesh, with emergency services cautioning that the fatality count could rise.
A total of sixteen bodies have been retrieved but were burned impossible to identify, the firefighters stated.
Heartbroken relatives converged outside the four-level factory in the Mirpur district of Dhaka on Tuesday in looking for their dear ones still missing.
The fire, which erupted at the factory around lunchtime, was extinguished after three hours. But an nearby chemical warehouse remained ablaze, 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 indicated.
Fire department authorities have not determined which of the two buildings ignited initially.
Based on witnesses, the chemical warehouse housed chemical bleaching agents, plastic materials and chemical peroxide, all of which can worsen fires. Plastic also produces toxic fumes when ignited.
Law enforcement and armed forces are still attempting to find the owners of the factory and the warehouse, emergency services head the department director informed reporters.
An probe on whether the warehouse was running according to regulations is also currently underway, he noted.
Crying 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 haven't found her... I just want my daughter back," he stated to reporters.
The catastrophic occurrence has once again highlighted the security issues affecting Bangladesh's garment industry, which engages countless of workers and is a major provider of export earnings for the South Asian economy.
