Bangladesh: 16 killed in fire at garment factory, chemical warehouse

In Bangladesh, a fire on Tuesday at a garment factory and an adjacent chemical warehouse killed at least 16 people and injured others, and the death toll could rise, an official said. The cause of the blaze wasn't immediately known, fire service director Tajul Islam Chowdhury said. "Sixteen bodies have been recovered from the second and third floors of the garment factory," he said, adding that the number of deaths could rise as recovery operations were continuing. 
The fire broke out at around midday on the third floor of the four-storey factory in the Mirpur area of the capital Dhaka, before spreading to a chemical warehouse storing bleaching powder, plastic and hydrogen peroxide, Talha Bin Jashim, a fire department official said, citing witnesses  Chowdhury said the owners of the factory had not yet been identified. "The police and the army are trying to locate them," he said. He added that neither the garment factory nor the chemical warehouse had approval or any fire safety plan.
Based on the initial findings, he said the garment factory had a tin roof with a grilled door that was kept locked. "The workers couldn't reach the upper level," he said. "The chemical explosion caused a flashover that released toxic gas, leaving many unconscious and trapping them inside. They couldn't escape either upward or downward."
Poor fire and building safety standards lead to dozens of such disasters in Bangladesh each year, and past accidents have tarnished the country's garments sector, which employs 4 million people and makes up more than 10% of the country's gross domestic product.