Bangladesh
Locked inside a factory without fire exit, 52 lives go up in flames
A fire engulfed a food and beverage factory outside Bangladesh’s capital, killing at least 52 people, many of whom were trapped inside by an illegally locked door, fire officials said Friday.
The blaze began Thursday night at the five-story Hashem Foods Ltd. factory in Rupganj, just outside Dhaka, sending huge clouds of black smoke billowing into the sky. Police initially gave a toll of three dead, but then discovered piles of bodies on Friday afternoon after the fire was extinguished.
Read: Trapped in a building with no fire exit and gates locked, workers were burned to a pulp
So far 52 bodies have been recovered, but the top two floors of the factory have yet to be searched, said Debasish Bardhan, deputy director of the Fire Service and Civil Defense.
He said the main exit of the factory was locked from the inside and many of those who died were trapped.
Many workers jumped from the upper floors of the factory, and at least 26 suffered injuries, the United News of Bangladesh agency reported.
Information about how many people were in the factory and how many were missing was not immediately available.
Read: Rupganj factory: Legal action against owner if negligence found, warns State Minister
“For now, we only have these details. After searching the top floors we will be able to get a complete picture,” Bardhan said.
Bangladesh has a tragic history of industrial disasters, including factories catching fire with the workers locked inside. Continuing corruption and lax enforcement have resulted in many deaths over the years, and big international brands, which employ tens of thousands of low-paid workers in Bangladesh, have come under heavy pressure to improve factory conditions after fires and other disasters killed thousands of people.
The factory that caught fire Thursday was subsidiary of Sajeeb Group, a Bangladeshi company that produces juice under Pakistan’s Lahore-based Shezan International Ltd., said Kazi Abdur Rahman, the group’s senior general manager for export.
According to the group’s website, the company exports its products to a number of countries including Australia, the United States, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Bhutan, Nepal and nations in the Middle East and Africa.
Rahman told The Associated Press by phone that the company is fully compliant with international standards, but he was not certain whether the exit of the factory was locked. According to Bangladesh’s factory laws, a factory cannot lock its exit when workers are inside during production hours.
Read: Factory fires: Bangladesh's recurring nightmare
“We are a reputed company; we maintain rules,” he said. “What happened today is very sad. We regret it.”
As the recovery effort was carried out Friday, victims in white body bags were piled in a fleet of ambulances as relatives wailed. As the heavy smoke continued to rise from the still smoldering factory, weeping family members of missing workers waited anxiously for news of loved ones outside the charred site.
Earlier, family members clashed with police as they waited overnight without any word of the fate of their loved ones.
The government ordered an investigation into the cause of the fire.
Past industrial tragedies have often been attributed to safety lapses that still plague the South Asian country despite its rapid economic growth.
In 2012, about 117 workers died when they were trapped behind locked exits in a garment factory in Dhaka.
The country’s worst Industrial disaster came the following year, when the Rana Plaza garment factory outside Dhaka collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people.
Authorities imposed tougher safety rules after that disaster and the country’s garment industry has since become largely compliant under domestic and global watchdogs. But many other local industries fail to maintain safety compliance and the disasters have continued.
In February 2019, a blaze ripped through a 400-year-old area cramped with apartments, shops and warehouses in the oldest part of Dhaka and killed at least 67 people. Another fire in Old Dhaka in a house illegally storing chemicals killed at least 123 people in 2010.
The International Labor Organization said in a 2017 report that Bangladesh’s regulatory framework and inspections “had not been able to keep pace with the development of the industry.”
DSCC cancels three haats
Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) has cancelled the proposed lease on three haats, (makeshift cattle markets) due to the surging Covid-19 infections in the city.
A haat proposed near Little Friends Club adjacent to Kamalapur Stadium, one in Amulia Model Town area and the last adjacent to Shampur Kadamtali Bus Stand.
Read: DSCC to set up 11 cattle markets
Sacrificial animals could be bought and sold at the 10 temporary cattle markets under the DSCC area for 5 days including the day of Eid-ul-Azha.
Contracts were being finalised with the leaseholders of these 10 cattle markets on condition of maintaining proper hygiene in the markets.
Read Digital Cattle Markets in Bangladesh to Buy Sacrificing Animals Online
The property department of DSCC issued a lease notice inviting tenders in three phases for 13 temporary cattle markets in the corporation area.
At the end of the first and second phases, 10 temporary cattle markets were selected for the lease.
Read Digital Haat and more Qurbani Cow online shops targeting Eid-ul-Azha in Bangladesh
Considering the Covid-19 situation, at the end of the third phase of the tender, it was decided not to lease any more places for the markets.
Rupganj factory: Legal action against owner if negligence found, warns State Minister
Legal action will be taken against the owners of the Rupganj factory where over 50 workers died in a fire, if there is evidence of their negligence, State Minister for Labor and Employment Begum Monnujan Sufian pledged on Friday.
“A committee would be formed by the Ministry of Labor and Employment to look into the overall cause of the tragic accident. It will also the involvement of child labour in this factory. If evidence is found, action will be taken against the employer in accordance with labor law,” she said after visiting the fire site on Friday evening.
Read: Trapped in a building with no fire exit and gates locked, workers were burned to a pulp
She also said that the family of the deceased would be provided with Tk 2 lac and the injured Tk 50,000 tomorrow from the Bangladesh Workers Welfare Foundation fund under the labor ministry.
The state minister visited the injured workers at Dhaka Medical College Hospitals and inquired about their treatment.
A massive fire broke out in a seven-storey factory of Hashem Foods Ltd, a subsidiary of the Sajeeb Group, in Bhulta of Rupganj on Thursday evening.
The confirmed death toll till filing of this report stands at 52, and is expected to rise.
As more details emerged of the catastrophe, it became clear that the workers were left with no chance in the face of the raging inferno, that has been further fuelled by combustible items such as ghee, butter, oil and polybags stored on each floor.
Even so, the workers may have had a chance at escape, if only the building code had been maintained to provide an emergency exit, or the management had not implemented the medieval practice of locking the gates of the factory floors, that carried undertones of the horrific Tazreen Garments fire in 2012 that killed at least 112.
Read: Factory fires: Bangladesh's recurring nightmare
Deputy Director of the Fire Service Debashish Bardhan confirmed to UNB that rescue workers had to literally break down the locked collapsible gate on the building's 4th floor to go in and recover the bodies. That is where they found 49 of the bodies, burnt to a pulp overnight on the factory floor.
According to the information gathered from relatives, 45 workers are still missing. Most of the workers in the factory were juveniles.
A five-member probe committee has been formed to investigate the fire.Narayanganj Deputy Commissioner Mostain Billah has announced assistance of Tk 25,000 to each family of the deceased and Tk 10,000 for the treatment of the injured from the funds of the district administration.
Besides, on behalf of the factory owner, Textiles and Jute Minister Golam Dastagir Gazi Bir Pratik will make arrangements for 'compensation' to the victims.
Travel ban imposed on Evaly chairman, MD
The Anti- Corruption Commission (ACC) Friday imposed a travel ban on Evaly Chairman Shamima Nasrin and Managing Director Mohammad Rassel as it has launched an inquiry into an allegation of embezzlement of Tk338.62 crore from customers and merchants.
"The commission has taken all steps to prevent them from leaving the country," ACC Deputy Director (Public Relations) Muhammad Arif Sadeq told UNB.
Read: BB to probe Evaly financial transactions, e-commerce activities
The anti-graft watchdog already notified the police's Special Branch and the Department of Immigration and Passport about the issue in a letter.
Earlier, the commerce ministry asked the ACC to launch an investigation into allegations that Evaly misappropriated Tk338.62 crore – received in advance from customers and merchants.
The ACC formed a two-member committee to investigate the alleged embezzlement after receiving a letter from the ministry, Arif Sadeq said.
Evaly's total liabilities were Tk407.18 crore, which they need to pay to consumers and merchants, the Bangladesh Bank said in an inspection report last month.
Read:e-CAB formed 7-member body to observe business of Evaly
After receiving Tk213.94 crore in advance from customers and Tk189.85 crore from merchants, Evaly was expected to have at least Tk403.80 crore in current assets, but it only had Tk65.17 crore.
The company can now deliver goods or return the money to only 16.14% of the customers with its current assets, the ministry said.
Factory fires: Bangladesh's recurring nightmare
Bangladesh, the second-largest garment exporter after China, has a long history of industrial disasters and abuses, including factory fires with workers trapped behind locked exits.
Lax enforcement of safety standards and unsafe working conditions in its factories makes fires a tragedy of the commons here, largely in the apparel sector which accounts for about 80% of the country's exports.
Industrial safety in Bangladesh has repeatedly come under intense scrutiny following each disaster. Although public outcry followed each trauma and tragedy, working conditions in garment factories have remained largely unchanged.
Weeping family members of missing workers waiting anxiously to learn the fate of their loved ones has become a regular sight.
The authorities promised better safety standards after the collapse of the Rana Plaza building, which killed more than 1,100 workers and injured hundreds in 2013 in Bangladesh's apparel industry's biggest disaster.
Also read: Trapped in a building with no fire exit and gates locked, workers were burned to a pulp
The collapse led to better labour conditions and tougher safety rules. But many local industries failed to maintain safety compliance, leading to accidents each year.
Covid-19: 3 brothers inseparable in death
Three brothers of a Natore family died on the same day just hours apart. While two died gasping for air due to Covid-19, the other passed away of a heart attack.
The diseased were identified as Shoriful Islam Pochu, Bablu and Jahangir.
Pochu, the middle brother, lost his battle against coronavirus on Friday dawn at Rajshahi Medical College and Hospital and his elder brother Bablu followed him just an hour later after a heart attack took his life away back home in Natore.
Also read: Bangladesh in grip of Covid’s wave; sees record 212 deaths
When the mourning members of the family were digging their graves at Garikhana central graveyard, little did they know that their younger brother was about to join them soon.
Jahangir, the youngest of the lot also succumbed to death at 7 pm on Friday evening at the Covid-19 unit of RMCH.
The brothers were proud owners of the well reputed Islamia Hotel of Natore.
Also read: Dhaka reemerging as Covid hotspot as battle plan ‘fails’: Experts
They conducted this business together for 40 years and it was only fitting that they were inseparable in death too .
Liton, son of Pochu confirmed this information to UNB.
A shell shocked Liton said,”Our family lost everything within hours, I honestly don’t know how we will overcome this.”
No laxity in costruction of Ashrayan houses to be tolerated: Project Director
Ashrayan-2 Project Director Md Mahbub Hossain on Friday said any sort of negligence in the construction of the houses under the project will not be tolerated as it is a dreamt project of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
“It is a dream of the Prime Minister and (her) dreamt project. This is the beginning of a dream for a poor man who is getting a house. So, we will not neglect it and will not tolerate any negligence,” he said.
The project director said this while talking to reporters after visiting the construction works of houses in Munshiganj Sadar upazila.
Five teams of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Friday started their visits to inspect the quality and design of Ashrayan houses in different parts of the country.
Despite of Covid-19 lockdown, the PMO teams will be on their grassroots visits for the next few days to inspect the houses that have already been constructed or are under construction under the Ashrayan-2 Project. The visiting teams will have to prepare reports with the use of pictures following their inspection.
Of these, two teams went to Munshiganj initially under the leadership of Project Director of Ashrayan-2 Md Mahbub Hossain. They visited some under-construction houses and exchanged views with beneficiaries in Munshiganj Sadar Upazila.
Also read: Ashrayan-2: Over 53,000 houses set to be distributed in June
In Munshiganj, Mahbub Hossain said, "We have formed five teams and today the inspection has started across the country. We will go to all districts in phases especially in the areas where there are allegations of irregularities. We asked the teams to investigate to verify the allegations.”
Noting that the landless and homeless families are getting free houses and lands under the Ashrayan project, he said “its Sheikh Hasian model for inclusive development.”
In reply to a question about rifts in the floors of some houses in Munshiganj, the Project Director said they formed a committee to investigate it. The works were not standard, according to primary information, he said.
“The repairing work (of the houses) has been started as per the recommendations of the committee. All those who were involved in this work in Munshiganj Sadar have been made OSD. Actions will be taken against them as per the service rules,” said the Project Director.
“All --the Upazila Administration and public representatives-- worked together here. It is not a small task to provide 118,380 houses (to landless and homeless families) during this corona period. We would definitely appreciate them and express gratitude to them. But we get upset when we hear two-four problems (allegations of irregularities over the houses),” Mahbub Hossain bemoaned.
Deputy Commissioner of Munishganj Kazi Nahid Rasul, PM’s deputy press secretary Hasan Jahid Tusher and PM’s assistant press secretary ABM Sarwer-E-Alom Sarker were present at the time.
Then the two teams left Munshiganj for two separate destinations.
One team, led by Project Director Mahbub Hossain, went to visit Mirzapur Upazila in Tangail, Sherpur, Shahjahanpur and Sadar Upazila in Bogura district.
Another team, led by deputy project director of Ashrayan-2 Mohammad Zahedur Rahman, went to visit Habiganj Sadar, Moulvibazar Sadar and Bishwanath in Sylhet.
Also read: Hasina inaugurates home distribution under Ashrayan-2 Project
Besides, three other teams went on the visits in Mymensingh, Jamalpur, Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat, Pabna, Manikganj and Natore districts.
The PMO has initiated the inspection as some newly constructed houses were damaged with the advent of monsoon and news of alleged irregularities in some places surfaced.
Five government officers have already been OSD on charges of the alleged irregularities in the construction of the houses.
The government in two phases provided some 118,380 tin-shed pucca houses to the landless and homeless families as the gifts of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina this year marking the Mujib Year.
The government also has a plan to provide more one lakh houses to homeless families under the Ashrayan-3 project that is run by the PMO in the Mujib Year.
4 UPDF members held in Khagrachhari
Four UPDF (Prasit) members were held Friday by an army patrolling team while collecting extortion money in Khagrachari's Sindukchhari area.
The arrestees were identified as Durjoy Chakma (32), Angthai Marma (22), Kanchai Marma (19) and Chaila Marma (19).
Also read: 4 UPDF members arrested in cases filed under Arms Act, for extortion
It was learned, on receiving information of a group extorting money, an army patrol team reached Chhankhola Para of Sindukchhari area when the UPDF extortionists opened fire at them. The army patrol team retaliated by firing back at them.
An official of the security force, requesting anonymity said, "At one point we were tactfully able to detain the UPDF members with weapons and cash."
Also read: UPDF member killed in Rangamati ‘gunfight’
The patrol team recovered two firearms, 06 mobile phones, cash money and a large number of money collection receipts from the arrestees.
Legal action was being taken against them.
Breaching Lockdown: 585 arrested, Tk 8.9 lakh realised in fines
Police arrested 585 people and fined 414 vehicles as a greater number of restless people were out on the streets violating lockdown restrictions on the ninth day, Thursday.
The arrestees were out on the streets violating restrictions, said DMP Additional Deputy Commissioner (media) Iftekharul Islam.
Meanwhile, mobile courts collected Tk 1,56,750 as fines from 129 people.
Also read: Lockdown Breaches: 1077 arrested as more people defy restrictions
During this time, the Traffic Division collected Tk 8,92,500 as penalties from vehicles for failing to comply with coronavirus lockdown restrictions.
The capital city saw more cars and city dwellers wandering on the main roads and alleys on the ninth day of the strict lockdown, only two days after Covid-19 claimed 201 lives in Bangladesh, its highest ever.
The number of vehicles and people on the street seemed to gradually increase every day amid a worsening pandemic situation and despite the law enforcers fining and detaining people for violating regulations.
Also read: 467 arrested on day 6 of strict lockdown
Bangladesh is currently under a 14-day lockdown imposed to tame an alarming surge in the Covid infections across the country.
Launched on July 1 the nationwide strict curbs will continue until July 14 midnight as both Covid cases and fatalities continue to hit new records.
Rupganj factory fire: Fire Service forms 5-member probe body
Fire Service and Civil Defense headquarters on Friday formed a 5-member committee to investigate the factory fire at Rupganj, Narayanganj .
Deputy assistant director of Fire Service Headquarters Shajahan Shikder confirmed the information to UNB.
“The committee has been asked to submit a report within 7 working days,” he said.
Also read: Trapped in a building with no fire exit and gates locked, workers were burned to a pulp
The committee will consist of Director(Line and Maintenance) Lt Colonel Jillur Rahman, Deputy Director Nur Hasan Ahmad, Assistant Director Moniruzzaman, Deputy Assistant Director Tanharul Islam and Inspector Md Shah Alam.
The death toll from the factory fire at Rupganj, Narayanganj jumped to 52 as firefighters started tallying fatalities in the massive blaze.
“At least 49 bodies have been recovered from the debris of the building during the search operation,” said Abdullah Al Arefin, deputy assistant director of the Fire Service and Civil Defence in Narayanganj district.
Also read: Death toll from Rupganj factory fire jumps to 52
Earlier, 3 deaths from the accident were confirmed by the authorities of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) and US Bangla Medical College and Hospital Rupganj.
With the fresh ones, the death toll from the fire touched 52, said the UNB correspondent in Narayanganj.
The massive fire that swept through the seven-storey building housing a juice factory of Hashem Foods Ltd at Bhulta Karnagop in Rupganj, Narayanganj broke out at 5 pm on Thursday.