At least 10 dead after fire at Bangladesh garment factory
by The Associated Press
Bodies found inside Aswad garment factory in Gazipur outside Dhaka, local fire official said
DHAKA, Bangladesh—An overnight fire at a garment factory outside Bangladesh’s capital has killed at least 10 people, an official said.
Fire official Zafar Ahmed said 10 bodies were found inside the Aswad garment factory in Gazipur outside Dhaka.
He said several other people were injured while trying to escape from the building.
Local journalist Iqbal Ahmed said from the scene that the fire occurred when the factory was closed for the day, but some employees were still inside working overtime.
Farhaduzzaman, another fire official, said the fire spread to two nearby buildings that also housed garment factories in the same group, but that firefighters had doused the flames in two of the buildings and were seeking to bring the blaze under control in the third building.
He could not immediately say whether any people were still trapped inside.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
The industry has experienced numerous fires, including one last November that killed 112 workers.
Bangladesh earns $20-billion a year from garment exports, mainly to the United States and Europe.
The sector employs about four million workers, mostly women.
Authorities in Bangladesh and global clothing companies have pledged to improve safety standards.
