Eight arrested on murder charges over Bangladesh factory fire

A firefighter inside the ruined remains of the factory (Mahmud Hossain Opu/AP)

Police in Bangladesh have arrested eight people on murder charges in connection with a factory fire that killed at least 52 people, many of whom were trapped inside by an illegally locked door.

The blaze began at the five-storey Hashem Foods factory in Rupganj, just outside the capital Dhaka, on Thursday night, sending huge clouds of black smoke billowing into the sky.