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Deadly Bangladesh factory fire

October 8, 2013

Several people have been killed in a fire at a clothing factory in Bangladesh. Safety standards have been under scrutiny in the country, after a similar incident last November killed 112 people.

https://p.dw.com/p/19wPM
A firefighter inspects a fire inside a garment factory in the Bangladeshi town of Gazipur, 40 km (25 miles) north of the capital Dhaka October 9, 2013. Nine employees including three company managers died in the blaze that originated in the knitting section of Aswad Composite Mills factory, a sister concern of Paul Mall Group. About 50 workers were injured in the fire, whose cause had yet to be determined. REUTERS/Andrew Biraj (BANGLADESH - Tags: DISASTER BUSINESS)
Image: Reuters

At least nine people were killed in the fire at the factory in Gazipur, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka.

Television footage showed three floors of the Aswad Composite Mills factory ablaze. It's understood the factory had been closed for the day but some employees inside were working overtime.

Up to 50 workers were injured in Tuesday's fire, the cause of which was not immediately known. A local fire official said the flames had spread to nearby buildings that also housed garment factories, but firefighters had extinguished flames in two buildings and were trying to bring the blaze under control in a third.

It is the latest in a series of deadly Bangladesh factory fires, including one last November that killed 112 people and placed the country's often unsafe working conditions into the global spotlight. In April, more than 1,100 people died when an eight-story factory building collapsed near Dhaka.

jr/kms (AP, Reuters)