Tragic Clothing Factory Fire in Bangladesh Claims no Fewer than 16 Lives
No fewer than 16 people have died after a huge fire erupted at a clothing factory in Bangladesh, with emergency services warning that the death toll could increase.
A total of sixteen bodies have been found but were burned unrecognizable, the fire service said.
Grief-stricken relatives converged outside the four-storey factory in the Mirpur district of Dhaka on Tuesday in looking for their family members still missing.
The inferno, which started at the factory around midday, was put out after three hours. But an adjacent chemical warehouse kept burning, 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, media reports indicated.
Emergency responders have not determined which of the two buildings caught fire first.
Based on witnesses, the chemical warehouse stored chemical bleaching agents, plastic and chemical peroxide, all of which can intensify fires. Plastic also emits poisonous gases when burned.
Law enforcement and armed forces are still searching for the owners of the factory and the warehouse, fire department chief the department director briefed the media.
An inquiry on whether the warehouse was operating legally is also currently underway, he mentioned.
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 looking frantically for his daughter, his loved one.
"When I was informed of the fire, I hurried to the scene. But I still haven't found her... I just want my daughter back," he told reporters.
The tragic incident has another time emphasized the hazardous conditions facing Bangladesh's clothing sector, which provides jobs for numerous of workers and is a crucial contributor to economic income for the country.
