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CatastropheBangladesh

Dozens killed in Bangladesh factory fire

July 9, 2021

At least 52 people were reported dead as a massive blaze broke out in a food processing factory on the outskirts of Dhaka.

https://p.dw.com/p/3wGAl
Flames rise the morning after a fire broke out at a factory.
The fire broke out at a factory named Hashem FoodsImage: Mohammad Ponir Hossain/REUTERS

A food processing factory in Bangladesh was still in flames on Friday, nearly 24 hours after a fire broke out, according to media reports. 

The death toll on Friday was at 52, police said. 

Dozens were injured in the factory blaze in Rupganj, nearly 25 kilometers (16 miles) east of the capital Dhaka.

Firefighters work at the scene of the fire.
Hundreds of relatives of the factory workers waited outside the factory as the blaze continued to rageImage: Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters

Police had earlier reported three deaths, including two female workers who died after they jumped from the third floor. 

The death toll rose sharply after firefighters started recovering dozens of bodies of trapped workers from the factory's upper floors. 

An aerial photo show firefighters trying to extinguish the massive fire.
Firefighters were trying to extinguish the fire overnightImage: Munir Uz Zaman/AFP/Getty Images

Locked gates

Survivors told local broadcasters that they broke open a padlocked gate to escape the fire when they heard the alarm. They said hundreds of employees were inside when the blaze broke out. 

Some of the injured workers jumped from the factory's roof to escape the blaze, police inspector Sheikh Kabirul Islam told AFP. 

Emergency crews rescued 12 workers trapped on the second and third floors of the building, said Zayedul Alam, chief of the district police.

Firefighters also rescued 25 people from the roof, according to AFP.  

The reason for the fire was still unclear.

A firefighter tries to extinguish fire inside the building
Officials have not confirmed the number of workers who were inside the factoryImage: Mohammad Ponir Hossain/REUTERS

Fires devastate Bangladesh

The fire was the latest unfortunate event in Bangladesh's history of tragic industrial disasters.

In a similar incident, at least 112 people were killed in a garment factory fire on the outskirts of Dhaka in 2012 as the workers were trapped behind the factory's locked gates. 

Earlier this year, a fire destroyed shelters in a Cox's Bazar refugee camp housing Rohingya Muslims.

In February 2019, a fire in a centuries-old cramped neighborhood in Dhaka killed at least 70 people. In the same year, more than 25 people died in a multistory commercial building fire. 

fb/sms (AFP, AP, dpa)