DHAKA – At least 23 people were killed and 50 injured on Saturday after a packaging factory was set on fire in north of the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka.
The Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported on Saturday that the fire erupted due to a boiler explosion at the Tampako Packaging Factory in the industrial town of Tongi, 20km north of the capital.
17 people were taken to a nearby hospital while five others succumbed to their injuries while undergoing treatment.
According to police, about 100 people were in the four-storey building at the time, including machine operators and guards.
The blast was caused by an explosion in the boiler room, at the start of the working day, officials say.
Local fire and civil defence chief Anis Ahamed said 20 fire trucks had worked to extinguish the fire.
At least 13 people died in a fire at a plastics factory Dhaka last year.
In 2012, 112 workers died in a fire at a factory just outside the capital.
