TONGI FACTORY FIRE: Death toll rises to 29

The death toll from Tongi factory fire rose to 29 as one succumbed to burn injury at Dhaka Medical College Hospital and bodies of four others were recovered from the debris of the building until Sunday 10:30pm.
‘The fire service could manage to douse the fire and we began cleaning and searching operation at 4:30pm with the help of Gazipur City Corporation and the district administration,’ Fire Service and Civil Defence director (training and operations) Lieutenant Colonel Musharaf Hossain told reporters at about 5:15pm near the affected factory, Tampaco Foils Limited.
The district administration so far listed 10 missing people, all workers of the factory, said Gazipur deputy commissioner SM Alam in the evening.
He said that the figure might increase.
The man died at the hospital was identified as Ripon Das, 25, of Morelganj in Bagerhat but the identity of the four bodies rescued from the debris could not be established.
‘All the bodies became black and charred in fire…It is not possible to identify any of them by witnessing,’ said Gazipur City Corporation conservancy department supervisor Sajid Khan, who was leading the city corporation team in cleaning with two bulldozers and three trucks.
According to the administration, 10 people – Kazim Uddin, 36, and Azim Uddin, 35, from Magura Sadar, Jahirul Islam, 37, and Rajesh Babu, 22, of Mirzapur in Tangail, Riyaz Hossain Murad of Shibpur in Lakshmipur, Ismail Hossain, 45, and Anisur Rahman, 30, of Shahajadpur in Sirajganj, Rafiqul Islam, 40, of Hossainpur in Kishoreganj, Nasir Uddin Patwari of Kachua in Chandpur, Masum Ahmed, 30, of Muradnagar in Comilla and Chunnu Molla, 22, of Boalmari in Faridpur – were missing.
Asked whether the four bodies were among the 10 people, fire service officials said that it was not possible to identify anyone of the recovered bodies.
While briefing reporters in the evening, fire service director Musharaf said that all the three buildings of Tampaco factory collapsed
and they were searching everywhere for people ‘alive’ or dead.
Asked whether there was any possibility of getting anyone alive, he replied that fire service conducted rescue, search and cleaning operation expecting to get people alive.
He said that they would conduct the cleaning and searching operation round the clock in three shifts so that each time fresh fire fighters could work after getting adequate rest.
The fire service director said that they found no passage or emergency exit in any of the three buildings, a mandatory one for running a factory.
He said that they faced trouble to fight fire for want of passage and as they could not enter the buildings easily.
He said that they were investigating the reason behind the fire.
Smokes were emitting from places of the collapsed buildings on Sunday evening and witnesses said that they were getting smell of bodies while passing by the front side of the factory.
Smell of smoke spread in the surrounding areas and families of reported missing workers were wailing near the place where law enforcers put barricade.
Md Yusuf Hawlader, a worker of Tampaco factory who escaped unhurt, said that he could smell the stench of gas and heard the bang of explosion and flames of fire and ran out of the factory from the back side within a few seconds.
He said that the death toll ‘would certainly rise’ as it was not possible to come out from the middle building within a minute or two as the fire engulfed whole building within a few minutes.
Industries minister Amir Hossain Amu, who visited the spot Sunday morning, told reporters that punitive action must be taken against those responsible for Saturday’s fire.
He also assured that the government would provide all necessary assistance to the victim families.
The district administration’s control room said that all the 24 bodies of the people who died on Saturday were identified and handed over to their families.
Dozens were also injured and many of them, including 11 at Dhaka MEdcial College Hospital, were now undergoing treatment, officials in fire service and hospitals in Tongi and Dhaka said.
The fire at Tampaco Foils Limited was the largest factory fire in the country after Tazreen apparel factory fire at Savar on November 24, 2012 that killed at least 112 people.
Fire service officials said that the factory had three inter-linked buildings, including two old buildings unfit for running such a factory. The front side one collapsed immediately after the explosion and the other collapsed within a couple of hours due to the fire.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net