Devastating Apparel Factory Fire in the South Asian nation Has Taken a Minimum of 16 Fatalities
A minimum of 16 people have lost their lives after a enormous fire broke out at a apparel factory in Bangladesh, with officials warning that the fatality count could increase.
Sixteen bodies have been found but were burned impossible to identify, the fire service reported.
Distraught relatives converged outside the four-storey factory in the Mirpur district of Dhaka on Tuesday in looking for their loved ones still unaccounted for.
The blaze, which started at the factory around lunchtime, was extinguished after several hours. But an adjacent chemical warehouse kept burning, officials said.
Up until 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) that day, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been entirely put out, journalistic accounts said.
Fire service officials have not ascertained which of the two buildings caught fire first.
Based on eyewitnesses, the chemical warehouse contained industrial bleaches, plastic and chemical peroxide, all of which can accelerate fires. Plastic also produces toxic fumes when ignited.
Law enforcement and armed forces are still searching for the operators of the factory and the warehouse, fire department chief the fire service official told journalists.
An investigation on whether the warehouse was functioning with proper authorization is also currently underway, he mentioned.
Weeping family members gathered outside the charred buildings, many of them grasping 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 hurried to the scene. But I still cannot locate her... I just want my daughter back," he told journalists.
The devastating event has yet again underscored the safety concerns facing Bangladesh's garment industry, which employs countless of workers and is a major provider of foreign revenue for the nation.
