Bangladesh godown hearth: Smoke continues to billow from charred chemical warehouse day after tragedy claims 16 lives

Plumes of smoke continued to billow from a charred chemical warehouse within the Bangladeshi capital on Wednesday (October 15, 2025), a day after a devastating hearth claimed the lives of not less than 16 folks.

Fire service officers stated the blaze was beneath management however not but absolutely doused, The Daily Star newspaper reported.

At least 16 employees have been killed and several other others injured on Tuesday within the hearth that broke out at a four-storey garment manufacturing unit and a chemical warehouse in Dhaka’s Rupnagar space.

The poisonous fumes emanating from the burnt chemical godown constructing precipitated a number of employees at an adjoining garment manufacturing unit to fall sick once they arrived for obligation this morning, the newspaper stated, including that smoke was nonetheless seen rising from the gutted constructing.

Rescuers battle

Officials stated as a result of heavy smoke and presence of chemical substances, rescuers are struggling to conduct operations inside.

Many employees from close by factories have been seen outdoors their buildings, reporting emotions of illness as a result of fumes.

A 25-year-old feminine employee of Okay-Tex Industries positioned in the identical space stated her manufacturing unit was shut down after simply two hours of labor, the newspaper reported.

“We came to the factory around 8:00 am and worked until about 10:00 am. After that, the authorities shut the factory for today after receiving information that workers at the nearby Rising Fashion factory had fallen sick from inhaling toxic fumes,” she stated.

Bangladesh’s industrial disasters

Bangladesh has a historical past of business disasters. Past industrial tragedies have typically been attributed to security lapses.

In 2021, a hearth engulfed a foods and drinks manufacturing unit in Bangladesh, killing not less than 52 folks.

In February 2019, a blaze ripped by means of a 400-year-old space cramped with flats, retailers and warehouses within the oldest a part of Dhaka and killed not less than 67 folks.

In 2012, about 117 employees died once they have been trapped behind locked exits in a garment manufacturing unit in Dhaka.

Bangladesh’s worst industrial catastrophe occurred the next yr, when the Rana Plaza garment manufacturing unit outdoors Dhaka collapsed, killing greater than 1,100 folks.

Another hearth in Old Dhaka in a home illegally storing chemical substances killed not less than 123 folks in 2010.