At least 16 people were killed on Tuesday after a fire tore through a chemical and garments factory in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, authorities said.
The blaze started in the factory’s warehouse before spreading to a nearby multi-storey garments building, according to Tajul Islam Chowdhury, director at the Fire Service Department.
“All the bodies were recovered from the garments factory,” Chowdhury told reporters, confirming the death toll.
Outside the charred building, relatives waited anxiously for news of their loved ones. Abdur Rahman, 19, said he was searching for his brother, Robin.
“I found one of his colleagues, who escaped by breaking a window. He saw my brother Robin inside. He didn’t make it.” Rahman said.
Others clutched photographs of missing family members, pleading for information as rescuers continued their search.
Chowdhury said the victims appeared to have suffered severe inhalation injuries, as “highly flammable materials were stacked inside” the building.
Authorities said they have not yet been able to enter the chemical warehouse where the fire is believed to have begun.
Witness Tahmina Sharmin, 34, described hearing a loud explosion before flames and smoke engulfed the area.
“People were startled and didn’t know what to do at first. I was among the first to respond before the fire crews arrived.” she said.
More than 26,500 fires were reported in Bangladesh last year, denoting persistent safety lapses in the country’s industrial sector.
In 2021, a fire at a food processing factory killed at least 52 people, many of them children. The nation’s deadliest industrial blaze occurred in 2012, when a garment factory on Dhaka’s outskirts caught fire, killing at least 111 people and injuring more than 200 others.