There is a fire in a food factory in Bangladesh killed at least 43 people, police said Friday, while emergency services removed bodies even when the building was still on fire.
The fire broke out in the Rupganj factory, an industrial city 25 km (15 miles) east of the capital Dhaka, on Thursday afternoon and was still burning almost 24 hours later.
Many of the 30 injured jumped for life from the upper floors of the complex.
It was unclear how many people had been trapped inside, although baffled relatives outside and other factory workers said they feared others had not escaped.
Mohammad Saiful, a factory worker who escaped, said dozens of people were inside when the fire broke out.
“On the third floor, the doors of the two stairwells were closed. Other colleagues say there were 48 people inside. I don’t know what happened to them, ”he said.
Police initially gave a death toll to three, but it increased dramatically as firefighters reached the upper floors and began removing dozens of bodies of trapped workers.
The charred victims were piled into a fleet of ambulances to take them to the mortuaries amid screams and distressed tears from people watching in the streets.
Police dispersed hundreds of people who blocked nearby roads and collided with officers.
Fires are common in Bangladesh due to lax application of safety rules. In February 2019, 70 people died when hell broke out in several Dhaka apartment blocks.
