Almost 23 people died and 70 were injured after a huge fire broke out in a garment packaging factory outside Dhaka on Saturday, police and witnesses said.
Advertisement
Police said, the death toll could rise as the fire is still not under control.
Mohammad Nayan, a rescue worker, told reporters that there were “about 100 people inside when the fire broke out”, in the building, which is located in the Tongi packaging district.
The Rana Plaza disaster led to worldwide calls to improve factory safety in the country.
The fire has even led to the partial collapse of the building.
“The bodies of 10 people were kept in the hospital”, Md Parvez Mia, a residential doctor of 50-bed Tongi Government Hospital, was quoted as saying by the Dhaka Tribune.
Islam said chemicals were allegedly stored on the ground floor.
The blast was caused by an explosion in the boiler room, at the start of the working day. “I am simultaneously feeling lucky and heartbroken”, he said, tears streaming down his face as he helped rush the many injured to hospital, blood staining his T-shirt. Gazipur Deputy Commissioner SM Alam told Dhaka Tribune that a five-member commission was formed to investigate the accident. The South Asian countrys economy earns roughly around $27bn (£20.3bn) through exports of garments and is the worlds second biggest exporter after China. In 2013, a commercial complex near Dhaka housing five garment factories collapsed, killing 1,135 people, Bangladesh’s worst industrial disaster.
Advertisement
In 2012, 112 factory workers died in a fire outside of Dhaka and previous year, 13 workers suffered the same fate in a plastic factory fire.
