Bangladesh factory blaze kills 21 women

A fire raced through a sweater factory near the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka overnight, killing at least 21 people and injuring dozens more, police said today.

All of the victims of last night’s fire, including 14 women, died of suffocation while being treated in hospitals or on the way there, after they were pulled from the Garib and Garib Sweater Factory in Gazipur, district Police Chief Mohammad Abdur Rashid said.

The area is about 20 miles north of the capital.

The search for additional victims was called off early today, he said.

The fire was brought under control this morning, firefighter Abdur Rashid said.

Bangladesh has about 4,000 textile factories, and many of them are unsafe, labour rights groups say.

The sector employs two million textile workers, mostly women.

The industry annually earns US$10bn from exports, mainly to the United States and Europe.