30 Die in Bangladesh Garment Factory Fire

Fire raced through a garment factory in a Dhaka suburb today, killing at least 30 people, police and hospital sources said. Hundreds fled from the flames, causing a stampede.

About 100 other people suffered burns.

Police said most of the bodies were found on the third floor, which houses a cutting room where cloth is piled before being made into garments.

Survivors said the room usually was kept locked so workers could not smuggle anything out of the factory.

Twenty-four charred bodies were pulled from the rubble, and doctors said five people succumbed to injuries in hospitals.

Another victim, a 9-year-old girl, died in the stampede as the 500 employees fled the flames, the police said.

Parveen Akhtar, a worker whose hands were badly burned, said the worst devastation was in the cutting room. “There were at least 100 people in the cutting room with heaps of clothes,” she said.

Other workers said the factory’s main entrance on the ground level was locked.

“Initially they (the guards) prevented many from escaping. The guards thought the fleeing people may run with shirts that the factory produces,” said Amena Begum, a sewing machine operator.

“It was like a hell. There was screaming all around,” said Mohammed Ali, a 25-year-old factory worker.

Police said they suspected the fire was started by a short circuit in the five-story building occupied by the privately owned Sareka Garments Co.

Firefighters fought the blaze for about three hours before bringing it under control.