Guwahati News Desk: A massive blaze tore through the five-story Hashem Foods Ltd. factory in Rupganj, an industrial town near Dhaka, on Thursday night.
Initially the police had given a toll of three dead, but then discovered piles of bodies on Friday afternoon after the fire was extinguished.
The deputy director of the Fire Service and Civil Defense, Debasish Bardhan, informed that the main exit of the factory was locked from inside, for which many of the workers trapped within the flames in the multi-storeyed building were forced to leap for their lives from the upper floors.
According to sources, the burning continued for nearly 25 hours and the reason behind the fire is continuous and rapid spread has been stated to be the highly flammable chemicals and plastics that were stockpiled inside the factory.
As per the reports, 52 bodies have been recovered, including, the bodies of two women and a man who died after jumping out from the multi-storied building and 49 burnt bodies found inside the factory. The bodies have now been taken to the mortuary.
As the emergency services brought out the burnt bodies from the building, the distraught relatives and other workers waited anxiously.
The duty officer of the mortuary of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) told media that the relatives of the deceased failed to identify the dead bodies and so, only DNA tests can now prove the identities.
President Abdul Hamid and Prime minister Sheikh Hasina have expressed deep shock and sorrow over the tragedy.
Over the years, Bangladesh has gained a reputation for such tragic occurrences of industrial disasters like factories catching fire with the workers locked inside. All of these has brought Bangladesh under heavy pressure to improve factory conditions.
The government has ordered a stern investigation into the cause of the fire.
Photo | IANS