Nine killed after fire engulfs chemical warehouse and garment factory in Bangladesh

At least nine people were killed and several injured after a fire consumed a garment factory and a chemical warehouse in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka on Tuesday.

Fire official Talha bin Jashim said nine bodies had been recovered from the first and second floors of the two buildings in Mirpur area.

“We suspect that all of them have died after inhaling toxic gas,” he said. The death toll could rise as firefighters were still searching the garment factory.

The fire erupted at around 11.45am local time and 12 firefighting units were deployed to combat the blaze, the official said. The cause of the fire was not immediately known, he added.

The fire started on the third floor of the seven-story garment factory in Mirpur before spreading to the warehouse storing bleaching powder, plastic, and hydrogen peroxide, the Fire Service and Civil Defence Department said.

Mr Jashim said they had “almost extinguished the fire” at the factory, “but the blaze at the chemical warehouse is yet to be fully contained”.

The injured, including three severely burnt people, were admitted to the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in Dhaka.

Bangladesh has the world's second-largest garment industry, after China, and the sector employs about 4 million workers, mostly women.

The industry, which earns the South Asian country nearly £30bn a year from exports, mainly to the US and Europe, has a history of industrial accidents and fires blamed on lax monitoring and violation of building codes.