Two female workers were killed and 71 others, mostly women, injured in a stampede triggered by twin boiler explosions at a garment factory at the capital’s Chankharpool on Saturday.
The deceased, Jasmin Akhter, 20, and Taslima Shikha, 20, both workers of Euro Tex Limited, died on way to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
A quality control officer of the factory, Anwar Hossain, said that the boiler explosion on the second floor of the seven-storied building at about 1:15pm caused panic among the workers who started running for safety.
There was a scramble on the stairs as hundreds of workers were trying to come down in panic resulting in the stampede, workers said.
‘Most of the workers of the floor went out of the factory after the first explosion and crowded the road in front. But the bosses asked us to go back to work,’ an apparel worker, Lebu Jahan, told New Age at DMCH.
‘As we were going upstairs to resume work, we heard similar bang and in the factory and the workers started scrambling to come out,’ she added.
A stampede on the stairs caused the casualties, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Lalbagh zone assistant commissioner Afruzul Haque Tutul told reporters.
Jasmin and Taslima were declared dead when they were brought to the hospital, the DMCH assistant director Mushfiqur Rahman told New Age.
He said that most of the workers sustained injuries in the stampede.
Seventy-one workers were given treatment while 49 were admitted to the hospital, the sources said.
A neurologist at the hospital, Rafiqul Islam, told New Age that four female workers sustained head injuries and their conditions were critical.
The incident took place when most of the workers were having lunch, the workers said.
As panic gripped workers on other floors, a production manager, Ashraf Hossain, asked the factory security-personnel to lock all exits, triggering a mad rush, alleged a machine operator, Hasina Khatun.
The workers brought the bodies from the hospital to the factory and staged demonstrations.
They also beat up Ashraf before police rescued him and took him to Lalbagh police station, said the assistant commissioner.
He said that the bodies were handed over to respective families.
After the incident, a meeting was held with the families of the victims. Factory owners, labour leaders and representatives from BGMEA, labour ministry and the police attended the meeting.
‘The factory management has agreed to compensate the families of the victims,’ Afruzul told New Age.
A large contingent of police was deployed in front of the factory.
-With New Age input
