Bangladesh garment factory fire kills at least 112 people

At least 112 people are reported killed in a deadly fire

at Tazrin Fashion factory in suburban Ashulia Savar, 30 km from Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka in, late on November 24, 2012. Reports indicate that fire started due to an electrical short circuit in the factory though the exact cause of the fatal incident is still being investigated. A similar accident in a garment factory near Dhaka in December of 2010 had killed about 25 people.

Bangladesh garment factories cater to Western brands and retail outlets such as Gap, H&M, Wal-Mart, JC Penney, Carrefour, Tesco, to name a few . Bangladesh has some 4,000 garment factories, many without proper safety measures. Even the factory in question did not have emergency exits to rescue workers in dire situations. The country annually earns about $20 billion (Rs 11,088 crores) from exports of garments, mainly to the US and Europe. In its 2012 Global Responsibility Report, Wal-Mart had said that “fire safety continues to be a key focus for brands and retailers sourcing from Bangladesh.” Wal-Mart said it ceased working with 49 factories in Bangladesh in 2011 because of fire safety issues, and was working with its supplier factories to phase out production from buildings deemed high risk.

It took firefighters over 17 hours to douse the blaze at the factory.