Fire at Bangladesh factory kills 52 workers, police open probe

At least 52 people were killed and 20 injured after a massive fire raged through a juice-making factory in Bangladesh, officials said on Friday, the latest industrial accident in a country with a track record of poor working conditions.

The fire started late Thursday on the ground floor of a six-storey factory building in Narayanganj, southeast of Dhaka, and was still raging Friday evening as firefighters scrambled to control it.

Flames rose from the top floors of the building, where many workers had jumped out from to escape, as a key exit out of the working areas was locked, said fire official Abdullah Al Arefin.

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

“Firefighters are struggling to control it, as chemicals and flammable materials were stored inside the building,” he added.

The cause of the fire is not yet known...