Fate sealed as gate was 'locked'

Selim Ahmed Correspondent Savar, Nov 25 (bdnews24.com)—The fire alarm was there and it went off rightly. But authorities of Tazreen Fashions Ltd stopped its workers running to safety saying the alarm had gone out of order, locked the factory gate from outside and asked them to return to work. Workers who escaped the blaze by jumping from windows they had broken shared how their colleagues were pushed towards death after the fire raged through their factory on Saturday evening. At least 110 workers were killed in the worst factory fire in the history of Bangladesh as rescuers wrapped up the operation on Sunday afternoon. Mohammad Ripu, who was working on the second floor of the nine-storied building, was one of those fortunate enough to survive by jumping from a window. Nine of his co-workers died trying to escape through the way Ripu had tried. Ripu, however, was injured. "The fire alarm went off during the incident (when the fire broke out). At that time we tried to go downstairs fearing a fire has broken out but the authorities said nothing had happened. The alarm was out of order (said the authorities)," said Ripu. "They locked the collapsible gate from outside and asked workers to go back to work saying the alarm was being fixed." Soon the fire, which started on the ground floor, spread to upper floors, forcing the panic-stricken workers to jump from the upper floors for their lives. "We went to the sample room as the temperature rose with the spread of fire and jumped." 'Nazmul' was another who found the factory entrance locked from outside and had to jump from the second floor. Md Swapan, another worker, alleged 'Kamrul' an orderly of one of the factory directors was the man who locked the gate from outside. The female workers were the most unlucky when they decided to jump for her dear life. Nine of them died, the most among men and women workers combined. Mili Akter was one of them, who fell onto the rooftop of an adjacent teen-roofed house. She cried inconsolably as she remembered her getaway and showed the bruises and cuts she had suffered during the ordeal. She made the same allegation: "Authorities did not allow us to escape though the fire alarm went off. The entrance was locked (from outside) claimed that the alarm was not working properly," said Akter. The allegation is not the first of its kind. In 2006, similar charges were made when a fatal fire swept through at KTS Textiles and Garments in Chittagong. At least 54 people, 12 of who were under the age of 14, were burned alive in that fire that broke out on Feb 23. The only means of escape was through the windows--either by jumping or by climbing down ropes made of cloth. Many survived this way though others suffered serious injuries in the process. Some were impaled on the steel rods sticking up in under-construction buildings around the factory. Of the dead, forty bodies were found just inside this second set of gates of KTS--they had been burnt, crushed or suffocated. Regarding this particular allegation of Tazreen workers, Industrial Police's Deputy Director Mukter Hossain said, "We also heard this. Nothing can be said until the investigation is complete." Three committees were formed to look into the incident. BBC quoting a firefighter reported there was no fire exit at Tazreen Fashions. Evidence such as the factory's correspondence with importers also suggest the factory was not compliant and Wal-Mart ranked it as 'Orange' in its evaluation, which means highly risky. bdnews24.com/corr/eh/bd/2313h