Seven bodies recovered, three probe bodies set up
The fire that broke out in Aswad Composite Mills Ltd at Sreepur in Gazipur about 5:45pm on Tuesday continued till 2:00pm on Wednesday although fire fighters contained the flames about 4:00am. Fire official on Wednesday afternoon said that they had found at least seven people dead. On Tuesday night, they, however, suspected that nine people were killed in the fire although they could recover only two bodies at night.
The superintendent of police, Abdul Baten, on Tuesday night also told reporters that the death figure could rise to nine. A labour group called Garments Workers’ Solidarity Forum, however on Wednesday, put the figure at 11.
Faruk, 30, who was injured in the fire, is admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. He said that he had been injured when he tried to put out the flames. No other injured was found to be taking treatment either in Dhaka or in Gazipur.
The labour ministry, the district administration and the Fire Service and Civil Defence set up three committees to investigate the incident
Fire officials and witnesses said that the fire had originated on the first floor of the factory where cloths were left to dry up.
The people who died in the fire had bee trapped in the place when they were trying to put out the flames, deputy assistant director of fire service Md Abdul Halim said. The factory had many workers trained in fire extinguishing.
Abdul Halim said that as the storeroom was filled with cotton and there was open space on the floor, the fire spread quickly to engulf the whole of the knitting section.
Witnesses and factory officials said that at least 500 people were working on the floor when the fire broke out.
Imdad Hossain, a director of the factory, on Tuesday night announced that the management would pay families Tk 30,000 for the burial of each of the victims.
Mushrefa Mishu, president of the Garments Workers’ Solidarity Forum, however on Wednesday, demanded Tk 48 lakh in compensation against each of the victims.
She told New Age that the incident could not be described as a simple accident. ‘It is rather killing. In every such incident, only the workers die. We have never heard any of the owners being victim in such incidents,’ she added.
Local people alleged that fire fighters were late by two hours in reaching the place and the fire caused whatever damage it could in the meantime. The fire fighters also took about 20 hours to put out the flames. Spot accounts said that the factory was still burning about 2:00pm on Wednesday.
The factory was manufacturing apparel products for Walmart and George, senior store officer Anwar Hossain said.
Bashir Ahmed, the chief of security in the factory, said that the seven who died were assistant general manager Md Rasheduzzaman, 33, also the chief of knitting section, feeder man Naymur Rahman, 26, operator Rubel Mia, 23, Bulbul Islam, 29, Minhazul Haque, 23, Lazu Mia, 21, and Khalilur Rahman, 26. Naymur, Rubel and Minhazul were trained in fire fighting.
The bodies of Rasheduzzaman and Naymur were found on the first floor on Tuesday night. The police and fire service people recovered five more bodies in the morning.
People gathered in front of the office office looking for their relatives working in the factory. Hazra, from Rangpur, said that his relative Nasamia Begum, 28, who worked in the factory could not be found after the fire incident.
Officials could not establish what caused the fire. But Md Shamin, an operator of the factory, said that the fire had originated from a boiler and it spread quickly to the ground floor.
The labour ministry also set up a three-member investigation committee, headed by the chief inspector of factory and establishment. The committee has been asked to submit the report in seven days.
The acting deputy commissioner of Gazipur Shahnewaz Dilruba Khan, said that they had also instituted a committee to investigate the cause of the fire. The committee, headed by additional district magistrate Md Mohsin, has been asked to submit the report in seven working days.
Others on the committee are Sreepur upazila chairman Iqbal Hossain, representative of the police superintendent and the civil surgeon’s office of Gazipur, Sreepur upazila nirbahi officer Aziz Haider Bhuyan, fire service deputy director Rafiqul Islam and a worker representative.
The acting deputy commissioner also said that the administration would pay families Tk 50,000 for the burial of each of the deceased. DNA test could be run for identification of the bodies, she added.
The Fire Service and Civil Defence also set up a three-member committee to investigate the incident.
The committee members are deputy director (administration and finance) of the fire service directorate Farid Uddin, an officer of the Dhaka fire service and civil defence of the rank of assistant director and deputy assistant director of the Gazipur fire service Akturazzaman Liton.
The Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters’ Association president, Atiqul Islam, at a press briefing at the BGMEA office in Dhaka in the evening said that they would institute another committee to investigate the matter.
Aswad’s managing director at the briefing said that it was ‘an accident but it was mysterious how the fire spread quickly’ in the factory that is ‘highly complaint.’
‘It is a matter of concern how a highly compliant factory could catch fire and how the fire spread so quickly,’ he said.
Nafis said that the company would pay Tk 5 lakh in compensation to families against each of the deceased adding that they had already given Tk 50,000 for burial. Families would also get Tk 2 lakh in insurance money against each of the deceased.
Nafis at the briefing said that the fire could have been caused by the heated chimney of a machine used to dry up yarn.
The BGMEA president Atiqul said that Tuesday’s fire just before the holding of the BATEXPO 2013 was ‘a message for us. The fate of the apparel sector depends on how we deal with this matter.’
Nafis said that the buyers had not taken the incident ‘negatively; they are rather encouraging us to overcome this problem.’
EU buyers’ consortium Accord in a statement, meanwhile, said, ‘This is a terrible tragedy and we regret this tragic loss of life at the Aswad Composite Mills factory.’
‘We send our deepest condolences to the bereaved families. Coming so soon after the building collapse in April, this is a cruel blow to the community dependent on garment workers in Bangladesh.’
Accord said that the fire stressed the need for for radical improvements in the working condition and safety of apparel workers in Bangladesh.
-With New Age input
