At least 16 people have died after a huge fire broke out at a garment factory in Bangladesh, with officials warning that the toll could rise.
Sixteen bodies have been recovered but were burned beyond recognition, according to the fire service.
Distraught relatives gathered outside the four-storey factory in Dhaka's Mirpur area on Tuesday in search of loved ones still missing.
The blaze, which broke out at the factory around midday, was extinguished after three hours. However, an adjacent chemical warehouse continued to burn, authorities noted.
Large fires are relatively common in densely populated Bangladesh, often due to lax safety standards and poor infrastructure. Hundreds of people have lost their lives in fires in recent years.
As of late in the evening, the chemical warehouse in Mirpur had not been completely doused, according to media reports.
Fire service officials are still determining which of the two buildings caught fire first.
Eyewitnesses reported that the warehouse contained bleaching powder, plastic, and hydrogen peroxide, materials known to intensify fires and release toxic fumes when burned.
Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury, director of the fire service, mentioned that the victims likely died instantly after inhaling the highly toxic gas emitted during the blaze.
Authorities are working to find the owners of the factory and the warehouse and investigate whether the warehouse was operating legally.
As families clutched photographs of their missing relatives outside the charred site, they were left to cope with their overwhelming grief. One father, desperately seeking his daughter Farzana Akhter, shared his anguish, stating, When I heard about the fire, I came running. But I still haven't found her....I just want my daughter back.
In recent years, Bangladesh has witnessed numerous deadly industrial accidents. In 2021, a fire at a food and drink factory resulted in at least 52 deaths, with the building found to be illegal and lacking emergency exits. A 2019 inferno in a historic district killed at least 78 people, and the 2013 collapse of a commercial building due to structural failures killed more than 1,100 individuals, marking the country's deadliest industrial disaster.
