Police arrest Bangladesh factory owners after fire kills 52

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) – Police in Bangladesh on Saturday arrested eight people for murder related to a factory fire that killed at least 52 people, many of whom were trapped inside through an illegally locked door, a senior police officer said .

The fire began Thursday evening in the five-story Hashem Foods Ltd. factory. in Rupganj, just outside the capital Dhaka, and sent huge clouds of black smoke into the sky. Police discovered heaps of bodies on Friday afternoon after the fire was extinguished.

“We arrested her for murder,” Narayanganj District Police Commissioner Jayedul Alam told The Associated Press. “You are now in our care.”

Interior Minister Asaduzzman Khan said among those detained was the executive director of the Sajeeb Group, which owns the factory.

The minister did not provide any further details, but said those responsible would be punished.

“It’s a murder,” Khan told reporters when he visited the factory on Saturday.

On Saturday evening, a Dhaka court allowed all eight suspects to remain in police custody for four days for interrogation.

Bangladesh has a tragic history of industrial disasters, including factories catching fire and women workers imprisoned. Major international brands employing tens of thousands of low-wage workers in Bangladesh have come under severe pressure to improve factory conditions.

In similar cases, factory owners have been charged with homicide charges of negligence, and it is illegal for a factory to lock its exits when workers are inside during production hours.

The main exit of the factory, which caught fire on Thursday, was locked from the inside, a fire and civil defense official said, and many of the dead were trapped.

One of them was 23-year-old Rima Akter, who desperately called her family when the fire hit the factory.

On Saturday, her mother and other family members struggled to identify the young woman’s remains in the morgue of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

“We checked 36 body bags, but it is very difficult to identify them,” said her brother-in-law Arafat Rahman.

Her mother, Josna Begum, wept when officials tried to reassure several families waiting outside the hospital that their loved ones’ bodies would be returned once the DNA tests were completed. Forensic experts were working to identify the dead by taking DNA samples from family members of the victims, and samples had been collected from 33 of the deceased by late Saturday afternoon, hospital officials said.

“My daughter worked to pay for her education. She attended online courses and exams. I have no one else in the world … what do I have to do now? ”Said Josna Begum.

Prova Barman, father of Kompa Rani Barman, who was killed in the fire, spoke to reporters outside the factory on Saturday.

“My daughter’s body was found over here. She was on the third floor. The guard locked many girls there during the fire, including my daughter. Many girls couldn’t escape after the gate was locked, ”he said.

Other workers jumped from the upper floors and at least 26 were injured, the United News of Bangladesh agency reported on Friday.

The factory is a subsidiary of the Sajeeb Group, a Bangladeshi company operating under the Pakistani Shezan International Ltd. based in Lahore produces juice. According to the group’s website, the company exports its products to a number of countries including Australia, the United States, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Bhutan, Nepal, and nations in the Middle East and Africa.

Despite the South Asian nation’s rapid economic growth, corruption and lax enforcement have resulted in many deaths over the years.

In 2012, around 117 workers died while trapped behind closed doors in a textile factory in Dhaka.

The following year, more than 1,100 people were killed when a building containing five textile factories collapsed, creating the country’s worst industrial disaster.

Investigators initially said those accused of misconduct would be charged with culpable homicide, which would carry a maximum sentence of seven years in prison. They later changed the charges to murder because of the severity of the disaster.

However, powerful factory owners often take advantage of the slow pace of the legal system and drag the process out for years. The 2013 factory collapse murders are still ongoing.

The tragedy resulted in stricter safety regulations for the apparel industry, but many other sectors fail to comply with safety standards and the disasters continued.

In February 2019, a fire broke through a 400-year-old area full of apartments, shops and warehouses in the oldest part of Dhaka, killing at least 67 people.

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AP video journalist Al-Emrun Garjon contributed to the story.