Workers trapped in chemical fire at Mirpur factory, unable to escape toxic fumes

By evening, firefighters recovered 16 bodies, all from the second and third floors of the garment factory building

In Mirpur’s Rupnagar, a chemical warehouse sits directly across from a garment factory in an industrial plot beside the residential zone. It is surrounded by private universities, healthcare centres, and several other garment units.

On Tuesday afternoon, a fire broke out in the chemical warehouse, quickly spreading toxic smoke across the area. Workers in the adjacent four-storey garment factory were immediately affected.

Fire Service officials, assessing the scene during firefighting and rescue operations, said the flames from the warehouse rapidly spread to the lower floors of the neighbouring garment building via a narrow alley. Workers could not evacuate downward, and locked roof doors prevented escape upward.

Rescuers suspect that staff on the upper floors succumbed to the toxic smoke before the fire engulfed the higher levels, reducing them to ashes.

By evening, the fire service reported the recovery of 16 bodies, all from the factory’s second and third floors.

Standing at the scene around 7:15pm, Fire Service Director Lt Col Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury said preliminary investigations indicated: “The four-storey garment factory has a tin roof. There is a grilled door to access it, which was locked. This prevented workers from going up.

“You know the scale of the chemical explosion; due to flashover and toxic gases, they lost consciousness suddenly. They couldn’t move, neither up nor down.”

He added that the chemical warehouse fire was still uncontrolled, raising fears of more casualties.

Tajul also confirmed that neither the garment factory nor the chemical warehouse had official approval or any safety plan in place.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) said the Mirpur facility, where the fire broke out, is not a registered garment manufacturing unit under its membership; it is a washing plant. In a statement, BGMEA identified the facility as Shah Ali Washing Limited.