At least 16 individuals have died after a enormous fire erupted at a garment factory in Bangladesh, with emergency services cautioning that the number of victims could climb.
16 bodies have been recovered but were charred beyond recognition, the fire department said.
Distraught relatives assembled outside the four-storey factory in the Mirpur district of Dhaka on Tuesday in seeking their family members still unaccounted for.
The blaze, which broke out at the factory around noon, was put out after three hours. But an neighboring chemical warehouse continued to burn, authorities said.
Until 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) that day, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been completely doused, news sources reported.
Emergency responders have not ascertained which of the two buildings caught fire first.
Per eyewitnesses, the chemical warehouse housed chemical bleaching agents, synthetic polymers and chemical peroxide, all of which can accelerate fires. Plastic also emits poisonous gases when ignited.
Security personnel are still searching for the operators of the factory and the warehouse, emergency services head Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury told the media.
An probe on whether the warehouse was running according to regulations is also ongoing, he noted.
Weeping family members stood outside the burned buildings, many of them holding photographs of their unaccounted for relatives.
Among them is a man searching desperately for his daughter, his loved one.
"When I heard about the fire, I came running. But I still cannot locate her... I just want my daughter back," he expressed to reporters.
The devastating event has once again underscored the hazardous conditions affecting Bangladesh's clothing sector, which provides jobs for countless of workers and is a significant source of foreign revenue for the South Asian economy.
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