At Least 16 Dead In Bangladesh Factory Fire

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent

DHAKA, BANGLADESH (Worthy News) – A fire at a garment factory and an adjacent chemical warehouse in Bangladesh’s capital on Tuesday killed at least 16 people, and officials warned the death toll could rise as rescue operations continued late into the night.

Fire Service and Civil Defense Director Tajul Islam Chowdhury said, “Sixteen bodies have been recovered from the second and third floors of the garment factory,” located in Dhaka’s Mirpur district. “The cause of the blaze wasn’t immediately known,” he added, noting that firefighters were still searching through the debris for more victims.

According to authorities, the fire began on the third floor of the seven-story building and spread rapidly, reaching a nearby warehouse that contained bleaching powder, plastic, and hydrogen peroxide.

Those materials are known to intensify fires, though investigators have not yet confirmed whether chemical explosions occurred.

Witnesses said several people were injured while trying to escape through narrow stairways and windows, but the exact number of wounded remained unclear.

INVESTIGATION UNDERWAY

Officials said an inquiry had been launched to determine whether the chemical warehouse and factory met legal safety standards and possessed the required fire-safety licenses.

Bangladesh’s Fire Service and Civil Defense Department has repeatedly warned that many buildings in the capital lack proper fire exits and safety equipment, despite previous industrial disasters.

The latest tragedy revived memories of earlier catastrophes in Bangladesh’s garment industry. In 2012, a fire at the Tazreen Fashions factory near Dhaka killed at least 112 workers and injured more than 150, many of them trapped behind locked exits.

The following year, the Rana Plaza building collapse in 2013 — one of the world’s worst industrial disasters — killed more than 1,100 garment workers, prompting global scrutiny of working conditions in Bangladesh’s key export sector.

In 2021, a fire at the Hashem Foods (Shezan juice) factory in Rupganj, near Dhaka, killed 52 people. Investigators later found that several exits had been locked, trapping many of the victims inside.

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed condolences to the victims’ families and ordered a full investigation into Tuesday’s blaze.

Firefighters remained at the site to ensure the flames did not reignite, while recovery operations continued through the night.

Bangladesh’s garment industry — the world’s second largest after China — employs around 4 million people, most of them women, and accounts for over 80 percent of the nation’s export earnings.

Despite international pressure and safety reforms following past tragedies, experts and labor groups say fire hazards and poor compliance remain widespread in many of the country’s crowded industrial zones.

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