Devastating Apparel Factory Blaze in the South Asian nation Has Taken a Minimum of 16 Victims
At least 16 persons have died after a enormous fire broke out at a apparel factory in Bangladesh, with officials warning that the fatality count could rise.
A total of sixteen bodies have been retrieved but were incinerated impossible to identify, the fire department said.
Distraught relatives gathered outside the four-level factory in Mirpur, Dhaka on Tuesday in looking for their family members still not found.
The inferno, which erupted at the factory around noon, was put out after three hours. But an adjacent chemical warehouse continued to burn, emergency services said.
As late as 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 service officials have not established which of the two buildings was the origin point.
Per eyewitnesses, the chemical warehouse contained industrial bleaches, plastic and industrial peroxide, all of which can intensify fires. Synthetic materials also produces hazardous smoke when ignited.
Police and military officers are still trying to locate the operators of the factory and the warehouse, emergency services head the fire service official told the media.
An inquiry on whether the warehouse was operating legally is also currently underway, he noted.
Crying family members waited outside the fire-damaged buildings, many of them grasping photographs of their lost relatives.
Among them is a man searching desperately for his daughter, his loved one.
"When I learned of the fire, I rushed here. But I still cannot locate her... I just want my loved one back," he expressed to reporters.
The tragic incident has yet again underscored the safety concerns plaguing Bangladesh's clothing sector, which provides jobs for countless of workers and is a crucial source of foreign revenue for the nation.