A devastating fire broke out at a ready-made garment factory located at capital’s outskirt Ashulia leaving at least 20 persons, most of them are workers, injured yesterday evening.
The fire was originated around 6:30pm at the ground floor of ZA Apparels located at Saturia in Ashulia.
Officials at the Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD) headquarters said six units of the fire fighters from the Ashulia, Savar and Dhamrai stations of the FSCD, along with the workers of the factory, put out the blaze with their joint efforts for over one and a half hours.
According to the FSCD officials, the police and witnesses, most of the workers sustained injuries while they had been coming out of the four-storey factory in a hurry. The others sustained wounds during the process of dousing the fire.
Witnesses and FSCD officials said the fire was originated from a short circuit on the ground floor and it spread around in moments after it came in contact with a warehouse full of cotton and threads there.
“As soon as the fire broke out, it engulfed the entire building in moments amid heavy heat, thick dark smokes and fireballs leaving the workers into a frenzy,” said Shahjahan, one of the workers, and added: “Then we came down from the factory running.”
He said the fire gutted almost all the machineries and fabrics, cottons and threads of the factory. Mostafizur Rahman, director of Ashulia Industrial police unit, said many of the workers sustained injuries as they had been running out of the factory amid panic. The injured workers were admitted to different local hospitals and clinics.
“Usually 1,500 employees work in the factory everyday, but since it was Friday, there were around 150 workers on duties,” he added.
