Tazreen Fire: 5 years on, the pain lingers

Shobita Rani has been unemployed most of the last five years despite being hired a couple of times by garment factories in Savar.

The mother of three has been unable to sit or stand for long due to a crippling back pain she has had since jumping through the first-floor window of Tazreen Fashions.

Like her, many of the survivors of the deadly fire at the garment factory have not been able to resume a normal life in the last five years.

At least 113 workers were killed and 172 were injured on November 24, 2012, in the fire at Tazreen, some 35km South of Dhaka.

When the fire broke out, the workers attempted to leave the building through the front gate, but the management had locked it from outside. Most of the survivors left the building by jumping from the upper storey windows.

Tazreen Managing Director Delwar Hossain was sent to jail in February 2014 on charges of causing deaths by negligence. He was released on bail six months later.

Nasima Akter, 27, a mother of two, said she was a sewing machine operator on the third floor of the factory. She also jumped off the second floor of the building and got injured.

“I still am not fit to work. We have gone broke by going to different hospitals and clinics in the past few years.”

She added that she had been able to get some assistance from the “Injured Workers Medical Care Trust” formed last year.

Coordinator of the trust, Krishno Sen, said about 20 survivors were still struggling with severe injuries and needed specialised treatments.

He added that at least 172 workers were seriously injured in the fire.

Khairul Mamun Mintu, organising secretary of Garment Worker Trade Union Centre, said more than two thousand workers were in the factory when the fire broke out. The actual number of injured workers is well over 172.

Anju Ara, 50, another survivor, who has back pain and headaches, said she has to spend over Tk 1,000 on medication every month.

“Many of the injured workers did not get any medical support from the trust as they did not have their Tazreen ID cards. Their ID cards were taken away by the Tazreen administration when they were given arrears soon after the fire.”