Dense plumes of smoke continued to rise from a devastated chemical warehouse in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Wednesday, a full day after a horrific fire claimed the lives of at least 16 people.
Although fire service officials confirmed the blaze was under control, it had not yet been fully extinguished, as reported by The Daily Star newspaper.
The tragedy unfolded on Tuesday in Dhaka’s Rupnagar area, where a four-story garment factory and an adjacent chemical warehouse caught fire. The inferno killed 16 workers and left many others injured.
The lingering toxic fumes from the burnt chemical storage building led to several workers at a nearby garment factory falling ill when they reported for duty on Wednesday morning. The newspaper noted that smoke was still visibly pouring from the gutted structure.
Rescuers Face Challenges
Officials indicated that the intense smoke and hazardous chemicals within the building were significantly impeding rescue operations.
Many employees from surrounding factories were observed outside their workplaces, reporting feelings of sickness due to inhaling the noxious fumes.
A 25-year-old female worker from K-Tex Industries in the vicinity recounted that her factory halted operations after just two hours of work. “We arrived at the factory around 8:00 am and worked until about 10:00 am. After that, management decided to shut down for the day after receiving reports that workers at the nearby Rising Fashion factory had become unwell from the toxic smoke,” she explained.
A History of Industrial Disasters in Bangladesh
Bangladesh has an unfortunate record of severe industrial accidents, with safety shortcomings frequently cited as the cause of these past tragedies.
In 2021, a fire tore through a food and drink factory, resulting in at least 52 fatalities.
February 2019 saw another devastating fire sweep through a densely packed 400-year-old district of Dhaka, filled with apartments, shops, and warehouses, killing at least 67 people.
In 2012, approximately 117 workers perished after being trapped behind locked exits in a garment factory in Dhaka.
The country’s most catastrophic industrial event occurred the following year, when the Rana Plaza garment factory, located outside Dhaka, collapsed, leading to over 1,100 deaths.
Earlier, in 2010, another fire in Old Dhaka, originating from a house illegally storing chemicals, claimed at least 123 lives.