Six killed in factory fire

Six employees, including a textile engineer, of a spinning mill in Gazipur were killed in a factory fire on Tuesday.

Around 2:15pm, the fire erupted at a unit of the Auto Spinning Mills in Sreepur’s Nayanpur and soon spread to different units of the factory, reports our Gazipur correspondent.

Md Aktaruzzaman, deputy assistant director of Gazipur Fire Service and Civil Defence, said 18 fire engines doused the flames around 1:22am yesterday.

The death toll in a fire that broke out at a spinning mill in Sreepur upazila of Gazipur yesterday has now risen to six, after five bodies were recovered from the spot today.

But he could not say how the fire began.

Three bodies were recovered from the factory yesterday, while an injured died at Sreepur Upazila Heath Complex on Tuesday, said Aktaruzzaman.

“Still, two bodies among the victims are under the debris and work is going on to recover those,” said the official.

Five dead workers are Anwar Hossain, 32, Shah Jalal, 25, of Gazipur,

Abir Raihan, 21, Russel, 45, of Mymensingh, and Sujon, 30, of Pabna, while Selim Kabir, 42, of Gazipur, was a textile engineer at the factory.

Ratan Sheikh, a mill worker, said the fire suddenly engulfed the factory. The dead were trying to douse the fire, he said.

Photo: Abu Bakar Siddique Akand

A five-member committee, led by Additional District Magistrate Md Shahinur Rahman, has been formed to investigate the incident and has been asked to submit its report within seven working days, said SM Tariqul Islam, deputy commissioner of Gazipur.

In another incident, 11 female apparel workers were injured while escaping a fire that broke out at a garment factory in Chattogram city’s Nasirabad area yesterday morning, reports our staff correspondent in Chattogram. 

The factory workers were able to put out the flames before firefighters arrived, said fire service sources.

Fire Service and Civil Defence Headquarters in Chattogram said the fire originated from an electric short circuit on the second floor of MS Garments Ltd around 9:00am.

Alauddin Talukdar, assistant sub-inspector of Chattogram Medical College Hospital police outpost, said the female workers were injured as they tried to leave the spot hurriedly.

Some of them were admitted to the CMCH while others took first aid, said the police official.