At least 20 people died in a factory fire after a boiler exploded in a four-story building in Bangladesh on Saturday. At the time workers prepared to swap shifts.
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The blaze erupted early on Saturday morning and became Bangladesh’s worst industrial accident since the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in 2013 that killed 1,135 garment workers.
The huge blast early Saturday at the Tampaco Foils Ltd. factory outside the capital, Dhaka, triggered a massive blaze that spread quickly at the plant, where flammable chemicals were stored.
“We can not confirm if people are inside, but our priority is to rescue them if there is anyone”, Mohammad Akhtaruzzaman, a fire official at the site, told Reuters by phone. “There are small pits of fire inside therefore we have not managed to go in”, Mahmud told AFP.
Firefighters are still battling to douse the fire that was triggered by explosions at a packaging factory in Tongi of Gazipur yesterday.
The blast and ensuing blaze killed 23 workers nearly instantly, and eight more bodies were discovered on Sunday and into early Monday, the Associated Press quoted a local administrator as saying.
Tighter controls have been introduced, but dozens of workers still die every year.
The Rana Plaza disaster sparked demands for greater safety in the country and put the onus on foreign companies sourcing clothing from Bangladesh to act.
At least 13 people died in a fire at a plastics factory in Dhaka previous year.
The factory is owned by Syed Mokbul Hossain, a former member of parliament.
It’s the latest in a series of factory disasters in Bangladesh, one of the world’s top garment exporters.
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Tampaco Foils, which owns the five-storey factory, packages various items for several global brands, including Nestle and British American Tobacco. In November 2012, at least 111 workers were killed when a devastating fire engulfed a nine-storey garment factory in the Ashulia industrial area, outside the capital Dhaka.
