At least 16 people were killed Tuesday when a fire ripped through a garment factory and neighboring chemical warehouse in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka.
Several others were injured and the death toll was expected to rise as rescue operations continued, officials said.
"Sixteen bodies have been recovered from the second and third floors of the garment factory," fire service director, Tajul Islam Chowdhury, said, adding that the number of deaths could rise as recovery operations were continuing.
He said the cause of the blaze wasn't immediately known.
The fire broke out at around midday on the third floor of the seven-storey factory in the Mirpur area of the capital Dhaka, before spreading to a chemical warehouse storing bleaching powder, plastic and hydrogen peroxide, Talha Bin Jashim, another fire department official, said, citing witnesses.
