Tragic Clothing Factory Blaze in the South Asian nation Takes no Fewer than 16 Fatalities
A minimum of 16 people have perished after a enormous fire broke out at a apparel factory in Bangladesh, with authorities stating that the fatality count could rise.
A total of sixteen bodies have been retrieved but were burned impossible to identify, the fire service stated.
Grief-stricken relatives converged outside the multi-story factory in Dhaka's Mirpur area on that day in search of their family members still not found.
The inferno, which erupted at the factory around lunchtime, was extinguished after multiple hours. But an nearby chemical warehouse remained ablaze, authorities said.
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.
Fire department authorities have not ascertained which of the two buildings was the origin point.
According to witnesses, the chemical warehouse stored industrial bleaches, plastic materials and industrial peroxide, all of which can accelerate fires. Synthetic materials also produces toxic fumes when ignited.
Law enforcement and armed forces are still searching for the owners of the factory and the warehouse, fire department chief the fire service official told reporters.
An probe on whether the warehouse was running according to regulations is also ongoing, he noted.
Crying family members waited outside the charred buildings, many of them grasping photographs of their missing relatives.
Present at the scene is a man searching desperately for his daughter, his loved one.
"When I learned of the fire, I rushed here. But I still haven't found her... I just want my daughter back," he expressed to reporters.
The catastrophic occurrence has yet again underscored the security issues plaguing Bangladesh's apparel manufacturing, which provides jobs for countless of workers and is a major contributor to foreign revenue for the nation.
