According to a PTI report, 124 people have been killed in the multi-storey garment factory on the outskirts in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The report states that fire broke out at Tazrin Fashion factory in suburban Ashulia Savar, 30 km from Dhaka, last night and quickly spread to the the ground and first floors of the six-storey building, according to officials and witnesses.
“We have so far retrieved 124 bodies (and) rescue campaign is still underway,” Major Mahbub Hossain, a senior fire service official, told PTI over phone, adding that most of the bodies were found severely charred. He added the fire service said the toll could rise.
Fire service officials earlier said several workers of the factory were trapped inside and took shelter on the rooftop of the structure awaiting rescuers.
Efforts were still underway to extinguish the blaze with authorities mobilising several fire fighting units.
Television footage showed army troops and fire service rescuers bringing out bodies one after another from the debris as hundreds of people, including relatives of the victims, waited outside.
Update: According to an Indian Express report, 120 people are believed to be dead in the fire. The BBC is also reporting that at least 120 people have died in this deadly fire.
At least 112 people were killed in a fire that raced through a multi-story garment factory just outside of Bangladesh’s capital, an official said Sunday.
The blaze broke out at the seven-story factory operated by Tazreen Fashions late Saturday. By Sunday morning, firefighters had recovered 100 bodies, fire department Operations Director Maj. Mohammad Mahbub told The Associated Press.
He said another 12 people who had suffered injuries after jumping from the building to escape the fire later died at hospitals.
The death toll could rise as the search for victims was continuing, he said.
Bangladeshi firefighters battle a fire at a garment factory in the Savar neighbourhood in DhakaAP
Mahbub said army soldiers and border guards had been deployed to help police keep the situation under control as thousands of anxious relatives of the factory workers gathered at the scene.
He would not say how many people were still missing.
Bangladesh has some 4,000 garment factories, many without proper safety measures. The country annually earns about $20 billion from exports of garment products, mainly to the United States and Europe.
Agencies
