26 November,2012 08:43 AM IST | | Agencies
At least 124 people were killed when a fire raged through a garment factory in the outskirts of the Bangladesh capital, officials said on Sunday.
The fire that started on Saturday evening at Tazreen Fashion near the Dhaka Export Processing Zone in Ashulia was brought under control around 6 am yesterday, said fire service officials.
Gutted: An Army personel walks through rows of burnt sewing machines in the Tazreen Fashion plant in Savar, about 30 km north of Dhaka. Pic/AFP
Nine bodies were found on Saturday night, and 115 more were recovered from the factory the next morning.
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Police and fire-fighters said those killed in the incident did not suffer burns, but died after jumping from different floors of the eight-storey building. Some also died in a stampede.
An official from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association said they will provide one lakh taka (Rs 68,000) to the kin of each of the dead.
The blaze began at the cotton warehouse on the second floor of the factory. Police suspect the fire originated from an electrical short-circuit.
There were around 4,000 workers when the fire started. About 1,000 workers were trapped inside the factory while 3,000 managed to escape.
In a similar incident in 2007, at least 50 workers were killed in a blaze at a garment factory in the southeastern city of Chittagong.u00a0
4,000u00a0Number of garment factories in Bangladesh
$20 bnu00a0The amount the country earns from exports of garment products, mainly to the US and Europe
