The death toll in a huge fire at a packaging factory in Gazipur’s Tongi has risen to 21.
The fire spread across the five-storey factory building of Tampaco Foils Ltd after a boiler exploded around 6am on Saturday.
Authorities said 15 bodies are now in the Tongi hospital, four at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) and two more at the Adhunik Medical College Hospital at Dhaka`s Uttara.
Thirteen of the 21 dead have now been identified.
They are operators of the factory Joynal Abedin and Anwar Hossain, Cleaner Shankar, factory`s security personnel Redwan, Jahangir and Hannan Mia, Idris, Al Mamun, Nayan, Subhash, Jahidul and rickshaw puller Rashed.
At least 20 firefighting units are on the spot to put out the fire that has led to a partial collapse of the five storey building.
Flames and smoke were seen billowing out of the factory at 11:15am, five hours after the fire started. The fire service said strong winds had fanned the flames.
