Tragic Garment Factory Inferno in Bangladesh Claims no Fewer than 16 Lives
At least 16 individuals have perished after a massive fire erupted at a apparel factory in Bangladesh, with emergency services cautioning that the death toll could climb.
Sixteen bodies have been retrieved but were incinerated impossible to identify, the fire department stated.
Grief-stricken relatives gathered outside the four-level factory in Mirpur, Dhaka on that day in seeking their loved ones still not found.
The fire, which broke out at the factory around noon, was extinguished after multiple hours. But an neighboring chemical warehouse continued to burn, officials confirmed.
Up until 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) yesterday, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been fully extinguished, journalistic accounts indicated.
Fire department authorities have not determined which of the two buildings caught fire first.
Based on eyewitnesses, the chemical warehouse housed chemical bleaching agents, plastic materials and industrial peroxide, all of which can accelerate fires. Polymer products also produces toxic fumes when burned.
Law enforcement and armed forces are still searching for the owners of the factory and the warehouse, fire service director the department director told reporters.
An investigation on whether the warehouse was functioning with proper authorization is also in progress, he noted.
Weeping family members waited outside the charred 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 rushed here. But I still haven't found her... I just want my child back," he told news media.
The tragic incident has another time underscored the safety concerns plaguing Bangladesh's clothing sector, which engages millions of workers and is a major provider of foreign revenue for the nation.
