Over 100 dead in fire at Bangladesh garment factory
Bangladeshis and firefighters battle a fire at a garment factory in the Savar neighborhood in Dhaka, Bangladesh, late Saturday, Nov. 24, 2012. / AP Photo/Polash Khan
Updated 11:43 PM ET
DHAKA, Bangladesh At least 112 people were killed in a fire that raced through a multi-story garment factory just outside of Bangladesh's capital, an official said Sunday.
The blaze broke out at the seven-story factory operated by Tazreen Fashions late Saturday. By Sunday morning, firefighters had recovered 100 bodies, fire department Operations Director Maj. Mohammad Mahbub told The Associated Press.
He said another 12 people who had suffered injuries after jumping from the building to escape the fire later died at hospitals.
The death toll could rise as the search for victims was continuing, he said.
Mahbub said army soldiers and border guards had been deployed to help police keep the situation under control as thousands of anxious relatives of the factory workers gathered at the scene.
He would not say how many people were still missing.
Bangladesh has some 4,000 garment factories, many without proper safety measures. The country annually earns about $20 billion from exports of garment products, mainly to the United States and Europe.
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We can't compete against countries that have no Social Security, no OSHA laws, no workmen's comp. or building codes. Free trade only when the playing field is level.
You know, REGULATIONS. Something America has too many of, according to those that love to offshore and profiteer from. This is another example of corporate greed. Workers are just expendable cattle.
Join with the garment workers union and go to Bangladesh to organize there. You all claim to be international unions. These third world countries are where the USA was 100 years ago. They need the help with safety rules, pay and working conditions.
I support fair living for all. The day corporate CEOs felt their own pay (40x of their workers) was too small and decided to gut our workers while exploit workers everywhere else* for their personal gain... it's hard to be pro-business when it is anti-worker. And symbiotic relationships are always more ethical than parasitic ones.
* so in one way or another, we're all exploited.
Analyze the root cause.
Muswell-2009's reply sums it up rather nimbly. But what pressure can we apply? More regulations? That's what drove companies to use these worker cattle in other countries so they wouldn't have to pay decent wages, have proper fire containment systems, or any other regulations that would have peoples' lives.
That's the point. Corporate greed and anti-life philosophies.