Fire at Bangladesh factory kills at least 52

DHAKA (Reuters), 9 July, 2021 – At least 52 people were killed, 20 injured and many more feared trapped after a massive fire raged through a juice-making factory in Bangladesh, officials said on Friday, the latest industrial fire accident in the country.

The fire started on Thursday evening at the ground floor of a six-storey factory building in the Narayanganj district, 20 km (12 miles) southeast of the capital Dhaka, run by the private firm Hashem Food and Beverage, which is a unit of Bangladesh’s multinational Sajeeb Group. The factory makes mango fruit drinks under the Shezan brand.

“Three people died from jumping off the building to escape the fire and 49 charred bodies have been recovered so far,” Mustain Billah, the administrator for the Narayanganj district, told Reuters by phone from the scene.