Fire official Mohammed Rafiquzzaman said several bodies have been recovered from the explosion Saturday at a factory in the Tongi industrial area outside Dhaka.
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The reason for the fire in the industrial zone of Tongi, 20 km (12 miles) north of Dhaka, was not immediately known. A year later, a multi-storied commercial complex housing five garment factories and offices collapsed, killing 1,135 people, mostly garment workers near Dhaka.
He stressed on developing a culture of “preventive safety” in all factories and said the ILO was ready to further support Bangladesh’s efforts to ensure the safety of its workers.
“We have launched investigation. the persons responsible for the accident, the owner of the factory in particular, will face stern legal action”, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said. “We will take care of them”, Chair of Tampaco and a former member of parliament.
At least 13 people died in a fire accident at a plastic factory in Dhaka past year.
The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, a group of 28 mostly North American companies led by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Gap Inc., which has been working to improve building and fire safety at almost 700 Bangladeshi garment factories, said in a statement that the Tampaco Foils factory fire underscored the need to expand current safety initiatives.
“We checked the design of this factory and initially it is our understanding that it was a one floor building and later the floor had been raised, similar to case of Rana Plaza”, he said.
The latest incident comes weeks after over 100 people fell ill when they inhaled gas that leaked from a fertiliser plant in the town of Chittagong in southern Bangladesh.
The Tampaco factory supplies multinational and domestic brands including British-American Tobacco Bangladesh Limited and Nestle Bangladesh Limited, according to a company website.
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The Rana Plaza tragedy triggered global outrage and successfully put pressure on U.S. and European clothing brands to improve deplorable safety conditions at the factories which supply them.
