NEW DELHI (AP) – A boiler exploded and triggered a fire at a packaging factory near Bangladesh’s capital, leaving at least 12 people dead and 16 others injured on Saturday, officials said.
Several bodies were recovered from the five-story Tampaco Foils Ltd. factory in the Tongi industrial area outside Dhaka, fire official Mohammed Rafiquzzaman said. A doctor on duty at the Tongi Hospital said nine bodies were in the mortuary as officials waited for family members to identify them.
Nineteen people were brought to the state-run Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where three of them succumbed to burn injuries, said police official Mohammed Bacchu Mia.
Local TV stations said about 50 people were injured, indicating that the death toll could be higher.
Factory safety is a major concern in Bangladesh, which has thousands of garment and packaging factories that supply products to global clothing chains like America’s Wal-Mart and Sweden’s H&M.