国际英语新闻:Factory fire leaves 24 dead, reviving questions on safe working condition in Bangladesh

DHAKA, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh fire fighters, after hectic efforts of eight hours, managed Saturday afternoon to put out the blaze at a packaging factory where an explosion earlier in the day triggered a massive fire and led to the collapse of its three-story building

At least 24 workers were killed and scores of others injured in the incident.

Officials said the incident happened in the Tampaco Foils Ltd at Tongi on the outskirts of Bangladesh capital Dhaka on Saturday at about 6:00 a.m.( local time).

They said the fire triggered by the blast spread quickly because flammable chemicals were stored at the factory building which collapsed like a sandwich just in several minutes.

It is the biggest industrial disaster since 2013 when the Rana Plaza building collapsed.

"We've also come to know that at least 24 people were killed in the devastating fire caused by a boiler explosion," a Tongi police official told Xinhua.

Scores of the injured people were rushed to different hospitals in Dhaka and Tongi where many were said to be in critical condition.

The official who did not like to be named said the death toll may go up as many people have sustained critical injuries.

Nearly 70 people were injured in the fire triggered by explosion, said the official.

Twenty units of firefighters after hectic efforts of about eight hours at around 3:00 p.m. local time managed to douse the fire which was spreading to other adjacent buildings.

The Bangladesh authorities have already formed a five-member investigation committee which will submit its report in 15 working days.

A worker who survived the tragedy said many of them were inside the factory during the explosion because that was the time for morning shift workers to take the charges from their night shift colleagues.

Bangladeshi State Minister for Labour and Employment Mujibul Haque Chunnu said families of those killed in the explosion will get 200,000 taka each as compensation.

The tragedy once again revived questions about the commitments of the sector insiders to providing safe working conditions for the workers in the largest export sector in Bangladesh, which comprises about 5,000 factories employing more than 4 million workers, 80 percent of whom are women.

In 2012, at least 112 workers were killed in a fire that razed the eight-storey Tazreen Fashion Limited, where some global brands, including U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart, were manufactured.

Months after the fire at the Tazreen Fashions factory, Bangladesh suffered a fresh blow in April 2013. At least 1,131 people, mostly garment workers, were confirmed dead as an eight-story building, Rana Plaza, housing five garment factories, collapsed on April 24, 2013, in Savar on the outskirts of capital Dhaka.

Like Tazreen and Rana Plaza buildings, sources said Tampaco Foils Ltd at Tongi also stood as a gross violation of building-control laws.

Bangladeshi Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said they are looking into the matter whether the owner of the factory had any license to store any chemical item there.

He said stern actions will be taken if they find allegations of negligence against the owner .

Police are hunting the owner who has reportedly fled.

Requesting to be unnamed, a sector insider said that such incidents recur as culprits in most of the cases in past remained "untouchable" .

He said dozens of lawsuits have been filed against the owners after such incidents in past but they were later dissolved.

In Bangladesh, poorly constructed buildings have long been the source of successive accidents resulting in the death of workers.

In April 2005, at least 64 workers of Spectrum Garments were killed after its building collapse. In the subsequent year, another multi-storey Phoenix building in Dhaka's Tejgaon Industrial Area also collapsed, killing 21 people and injuring over 50.

Thanks to its cheap labor force, Bangladesh is now the world's second largest garments exporter after China, producing global brands for customers around the world. The country's garment industry has been severely criticized for safety concerns and labor unrest over rock-bottom wages in recent years.

Bangladesh set its export target in 2015-16 fiscal year at 37 billion U.S. dollars including 30.38 billion U.S. dollars from readymade garment products.