Fire in garment factory in Bangladesh breaks out, kills at least 10

Ten people were killed on Tuesday night in a garment factory blaze outside Bangladesh's capital, according to officials.           

The cause of the fire at the Aswad garment factory in Gazipur outside Dhaka was not immediately known, but the government was investigating.                   

It was finally doused early on Wednesday after firefighters labored for ten hours to bring it under control, a fire official said.                        

According to factory director Emdad Hossain, 170 workers were inside the factory when the fire started and most were able to escape.                

The general manager of the factory was said to be amongst the fatalities.                    

The accident comes just months after the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory building, also just outside Dhaka, in which 1,100 people were killed.   

Another garment factory fire last November killed 112 workers in a building that authorities said did not have enough exits.                  

Bangladesh earns 20 billion US dollars annually from garment exports, mainly to the United States and Europe.                     

The sector employs about 4 million workers, mostly women.        

Authorities and global clothing companies have pledged to improve safety standards in Bangladesh's garment industry after the Rana Plaza collapse and numerous other fatal accidents.


AP