Scores of the injured people were rushed to different hospitals in Dhaka and Tongi where many were said to be in critical condition.
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Twenty five units of firefighters were trying to douse the fire.
In 2013, the collapse of Rana Plaza, a building outside Dhaka, killed 1,135 workers mainly employed in the garment industry.
At least ten people have been killed in Bangladesh in a huge fire triggered by a boiler explosion at a packaging factory.
Workers have little chance of escape, with building regulations rarely enforced, chemicals badly stored and many fire exits blocked or padlocked to prevent theft.
Mohammad Rokon, 35, who escaped the fire with minor injuries, said: “I was working inside the office room when I heard an explosion and felt a tremor”. Dozens of injured have been transferred to hospital as firemen struggled to control the blaze at the packaging factory.
The fire service or the factory management is yet to comment on how the boiler exploded causing the fatal fire. The factory building collapsed when almost 3,000 workers were trapped inside.
The fire is the latest in a series of industrial accidents in the South Asian country, which is the world’s No. 2 garment exporter behind China.
Factory safety is a major concern in Bangladesh, which has thousands of garment and packaging factories that supply products to global chains like Wal-Mart and H&M.
Low-priced manufacturing is a mainstay of Bangladesh’s economy, but a series of industrial disasters in recent years have raised concerns about safety standards.
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According to CNN, local police chief Harunur Rashid said the explosion caused a fire while employees were inside the building in Tongi near the capital city of Dhaka.
