112 dead in garment factory blaze
Source: Agencies |
November 26, 2012, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
AT least 112 people died when a fire tore through a garment factory just outside Bangladesh's capital Dhaka.
The blaze broke out at the seven-story factory operated by Tazreen Fashions late on Saturday. By yesterday morning, firefighters had recovered 100 bodies, fire department Operations Director Major Mohammad Mahbub said.
He said another 12 people who had suffered injuries after jumping from the building to escape the fire later died in hospital.
The death toll could rise as the search for victims was continuing, he said.
The cause of the blaze is not immediately clear, and authorities have ordered an investigation.
Relatives of the factory workers were frantically looking for their loved ones. Sabina Yasmine said she saw the body of her daughter-in-law who died in the fire, but there was no trace of her son, who also worked at the factory.
Mahbub said firefighters recovered 69 bodies from the second floor of the factory alone. He said most of the victims had been trapped inside, with no emergency exits leading outside.
Many workers who had taken shelter on the roof of the factory were rescued, but firefighters were unable to save those trapped inside, Mahbub said.
He said the fire broke out on the ground floor, which was used as a warehouse, and spread quickly to the upper floors.
"The factory had three staircases, and all of them were down through the ground floor," Mahbub said. "So the workers could not come out when the fire engulfed the building."
"Had there been at least one emergency exit leading outside the factory, the casualties would have been much lower," he said.
Many of the victims were burned beyond recognition. The recovered bodies were being kept in rows on the premises of a nearby school.
Army soldiers and paramilitary border guards were deployed to help police keep the situation under control as thousands of onlookers and anxious relatives of the factory workers gathered at the scene, Mahbub said.
He would not say how many people were still missing.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed shock at the loss of so many lives in the blaze and asked authorities to conduct thorough search-and-rescue operations.
Bangladesh has some 4,000 garment factories, many without proper safety measures.
The country annually earns about US$20 billion from exports of garment products, mainly to the United States and Europe.
The factories make clothes for brands including Wal-Mart, JC Penney, H&M, Marks & Spencer, Carrefour and Tesco.
Separately, a flyover under construction fell onto a busy market, leaving at least 14 people dead including three construction workers in the southeastern city of Chittagong, an official said yesterday.
Local fire official Abdul Mannan said the concrete structure collapsed on Saturday night, and authorities recovered the bodies by yesterday morning from under the debris in the second-largest city after Dhaka.
The blaze broke out at the seven-story factory operated by Tazreen Fashions late on Saturday. By yesterday morning, firefighters had recovered 100 bodies, fire department Operations Director Major Mohammad Mahbub said.
He said another 12 people who had suffered injuries after jumping from the building to escape the fire later died in hospital.
The death toll could rise as the search for victims was continuing, he said.
The cause of the blaze is not immediately clear, and authorities have ordered an investigation.
Relatives of the factory workers were frantically looking for their loved ones. Sabina Yasmine said she saw the body of her daughter-in-law who died in the fire, but there was no trace of her son, who also worked at the factory.
Mahbub said firefighters recovered 69 bodies from the second floor of the factory alone. He said most of the victims had been trapped inside, with no emergency exits leading outside.
Many workers who had taken shelter on the roof of the factory were rescued, but firefighters were unable to save those trapped inside, Mahbub said.
He said the fire broke out on the ground floor, which was used as a warehouse, and spread quickly to the upper floors.
"The factory had three staircases, and all of them were down through the ground floor," Mahbub said. "So the workers could not come out when the fire engulfed the building."
"Had there been at least one emergency exit leading outside the factory, the casualties would have been much lower," he said.
Many of the victims were burned beyond recognition. The recovered bodies were being kept in rows on the premises of a nearby school.
Army soldiers and paramilitary border guards were deployed to help police keep the situation under control as thousands of onlookers and anxious relatives of the factory workers gathered at the scene, Mahbub said.
He would not say how many people were still missing.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed shock at the loss of so many lives in the blaze and asked authorities to conduct thorough search-and-rescue operations.
Bangladesh has some 4,000 garment factories, many without proper safety measures.
The country annually earns about US$20 billion from exports of garment products, mainly to the United States and Europe.
The factories make clothes for brands including Wal-Mart, JC Penney, H&M, Marks & Spencer, Carrefour and Tesco.
Separately, a flyover under construction fell onto a busy market, leaving at least 14 people dead including three construction workers in the southeastern city of Chittagong, an official said yesterday.
Local fire official Abdul Mannan said the concrete structure collapsed on Saturday night, and authorities recovered the bodies by yesterday morning from under the debris in the second-largest city after Dhaka.
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