DHAKA (Reuters) -A fire broke out at a garment factory in Bangladesh and a chemical warehouse adjacent to it on Tuesday, killing at least nine people and wounding one, with the death toll expected to rise as rescue efforts continued, officials said.
“Nine bodies have been recovered so far in the garment factory,” fire service director Tajul Islam Chowdhury said, adding the number of fatalities could rise as recovery operations were continuing.
He said the cause of the blaze wasn’t immediately known.
The fire started on the third floor of the seven-storey factory in Dhaka’s Mirpur area before spreading to the chemical warehouse that stored bleaching powder, plastic and hydrogen peroxide, the Fire Service and Civil Defence department said.
Poor fire and building safety standards lead to dozens of such disasters in Bangladesh each year, and past accidents have tarnished the robust textiles sector, which employs millions and makes up more than 10% of its gross domestic product.
Eight firefighting units brought the blaze at the factory under control after nearly three hours, though the fire continued at the warehouse.
(Reporting by Ruma Paul; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
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