Fire-fighters struggle to put out a blaze that broke out at the rooftop of Matrix Sweater Factory in Gazipur on Tuesday.
A fire broke out at a sweater factory housed in a high-rise commercial building at Signboard of Gazipur, leaving four workers and a firefighter injured on Tuesday morning.
Gazipur Fire Service deputy assistant director Aktaruzzaman Liton said the fire originated in Matrix Sweater Factory on the seventh floor of the building around 7:30am.
No major casualties occurred as the fire began before the morning shift.
Twenty-four firefighting units from different fire service stations, including Joydebpur, Tongi, Savar,
Dhaka Export Processing Zone, Bhaluka and Kaliganj rushed in and took the blaze under control around 11:30am.
But their initial attempts to bring the inferno under control were hampered for lack of adequate sources of water in the area.
At least four workers and a firefighter suffered burns when they tried to douse the fire.
Works were suspended at the nearby apparel factories due to the fire.
Traffic on the busy Dhaka-Mymensingh highway became normal in the late morning after hours of disruptions.
Fire Service director [operation] Shakil Newaz said the reason behind the fire could not be immediately ascertained.
The factory authorities said the extent of losses in the fire was more than Tk 100 crore.
The factory deputy general manager, Anwar Sadat, said the factory measuring 70,000 square feet had a huge stock of readymade products for shipment. Besides, fabrics, cotton, machinery and furniture were burnt to ashes.
Meanwhile, Gazipur district deputy commissioner formed a five-member probe team to investigate the fire. The committee, headed by additional district magistrate, was asked to submit the report in seven days.
Fire accidents have been a major concern for the country’s burgeoning garment industry, which annually earns about $25 billion from exports mainly to the United States and Europe.
The devastating fire at Tazreen Fashions Limited at Ashulia industrial belt had killed at least 117 workers and injured about 200 others in 2012.
The industry insiders and global partners have said the country’s garment industry has improved to a great extent in the recent years in its fire safety standard following the Tazreen accident and the collapse of Rana Plaza in 2013 that killed more than 1,100 people.
Source: New Age
