7 burnt alive at shoe factory in city

At least seven workers burnt alive and many others sustained injuries in a devastating fire that broke out at a shoe factory at Dholaipar in South Jatrabari in the capital yesterday.
The fire gutted Lily Chemical, an adhesives making factory where adhesives and shoe soles were stuck together around 4:50 pm leaving seven persons dead on the spot.
The deceased were identified as Amir Hossain, Kohinur, Shainur, Fahima, Aklima, Rimu and Alaya. They were workers of Lily Chemical factory. The bodies were sent to Milford hospital morgue for autopsy.
Four workers– Aminur Begum, 25, Sheuly, 26, Rimo, 20 and Bisu, 21, were rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) with server burn injuries.
At least 55 to 95 percent of the bodies of the four admitted people were burnt. They were in critical condition, said duty doctor of the DMCH’s burn unit. Eight fire fighting units rushed to the spot and doused the flame after one and a half hours of frantic efforts at about 5:30 pm.
Abu Nayeem Mohammad Shahidullah, director of fire service told The New Nation yesterday that the cause of the fire and identities of the deceased could not be known immediately.
The fire erupted quickly since there was a large amount of chemical products, he added.
Some 20 to 25 workers, mostly female, were in the shoe factory when it caught by the fire.
Mohammad Murad, assistant commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police told The New Nation “We recovered seven bodies from the tin-shed shanty. Selim Mia, the owner of the factory cannot be found either, he added.
Habibur Rahaman Mollah, local member of the parliament and high officials of police and fire services visited the spot.
Habibur Rahaman assured the workers that he would give Tk 20,000 per deceased family.
A four-member committee headed by operation officer of the fire services Major Sheik Mohammad Shajalal has been formed to find out the causes of the fire, sources said. Via