Devastating Apparel Factory Fire in Bangladesh Claims no Fewer than 16 Lives
No fewer than 16 individuals have perished after a huge fire started at a apparel factory in Bangladesh, with officials warning that the fatality count could climb.
A total of sixteen bodies have been found but were burned impossible to identify, the fire department stated.
Grief-stricken relatives assembled outside the four-storey factory in Mirpur, Dhaka on Tuesday in search of their family members still unaccounted for.
The inferno, which broke out at the factory around lunchtime, was put out after several hours. But an nearby chemical warehouse kept burning, authorities said.
Until 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Tuesday, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been completely doused, media reports said.
Fire service officials have not ascertained which of the two buildings caught fire first.
Per bystanders, the chemical warehouse stored chemical bleaching agents, synthetic polymers and chemical peroxide, all of which can accelerate fires. Synthetic materials also emits hazardous smoke when burned.
Security personnel are still searching for the proprietors of the factory and the warehouse, fire service director the department director told reporters.
An inquiry on whether the warehouse was functioning with proper authorization is also currently underway, he noted.
Weeping family members waited outside the charred buildings, many of them clutching photographs of their unaccounted for relatives.
Among them is a man searching desperately 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 loved one back," he told journalists.
The catastrophic occurrence has once again underscored the security issues facing Bangladesh's apparel manufacturing, which provides jobs for countless of workers and is a major source of foreign revenue for the nation.
