Fire at Bangladesh plastics factory kills 13 people

A fire has swept through a plastics packaging factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, killing at least 13 people.

Fire department official Mohammed Farhaduzzaman said the fire was brought under control by late on Saturday night and a search was under way for more victims.

Farhaduzzaman said it was not immediately clear how many people might be missing, but survivors told him about 70 workers were inside the building when the fire broke out at the five-storey factory in the city’s Mirpur district.

He said at least 13 bodies were recovered from the gutted building, and three people were in hospital with burn injuries.

Local residents told the Daily Star newspaper that the factory recycled plastic and made packaging for food for the domestic market.

Safety conditions at Bangladeshi factories have come under international scrutiny in recent years.

A fire at a garment factory killed 112 workers in 2012, and in 2013 more than 1,100 people died in the collapse of a building housing five garment factories.

The collapse led a group of mostly European fashion brands to fund safety inspections in garment factories that began last year.