Deadly Clothing Factory Blaze in Bangladesh Claims at Least 16 Victims

A minimum of 16 people have died after a massive fire erupted at a clothing factory in Bangladesh, with emergency services warning that the number of victims could increase.

Sixteen bodies have been retrieved but were incinerated unrecognizable, the fire service said.

Distraught relatives assembled outside the four-storey factory in Dhaka's Mirpur area on Tuesday in looking for their dear ones still unaccounted for.

The inferno, which started at the factory around midday, was put out after multiple hours. But an adjacent chemical warehouse kept burning, authorities confirmed.

Until 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) that day, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been completely doused, media reports reported.

Fire department authorities have not determined which of the two buildings caught fire first.

Based on bystanders, the chemical warehouse housed chemical bleaching agents, plastic and hydrogen peroxide, all of which can intensify fires. Plastic also releases hazardous smoke when ignited.

Law enforcement and armed forces are still attempting to find the owners of the factory and the warehouse, fire service director the department director briefed the media.

An probe on whether the warehouse was operating legally is also in progress, he added.

Tearful family members stood outside the fire-damaged buildings, many of them holding photographs of their missing relatives.

Included in the crowd is a man looking frantically for his daughter, Farzana Akhter.

"When I heard about the fire, I hurried to the scene. But I still cannot locate her... I just want my loved one back," he stated to journalists.

The catastrophic occurrence has yet again highlighted the security issues facing Bangladesh's garment industry, which provides jobs for numerous of workers and is a significant source of export earnings for the South Asian economy.