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.

[jay2195]

My beef has always been that our government should restrict trade with countries that do not adhere to the same standards as we do re. building and OSHA type codes.
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.

[Daid132]

Well...there goes most of JC Penney's clothing!

[tafhdyd]

I wonder how many donors to the Romney campaign have investments in the companies there.

[MidRoadAlone]

I wonder how many donors to the Obama campaign have investments in the companies there.

[MidRoadAlone]

I wonder how many Hollywood celebrity fashion lines are produced in companies there. You know, the celebrities that want to "save the world".

[hypnotoad72]

"many without proper safety measures"


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.

[MidRoadAlone]

To the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union, instead of trying to organize Walmart employees, who appear in droves not to want to be unionized, why not help these people?

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.

[hypnotoad72]

Walmart employees, as do many American workers, drank the proverbial koolaid and believe that workers need never band together for fair conditions; since regulations exist to protect workers here and offer fair pay... oh, wait, they keep missing any number of articles about corporate welfare, offshoring, wage devaluation, etc...

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.

[takacrat]

If Wal-Mart is breaking any labor laws, why isn't charges being filed on Wal-Mart. It's the uNIONS that is breaking labor laws by making up laws that no-one but them-selves claims!

[rwsmith29456]

Reminds me of the New York Triangle Shirtwaist fire. Hopefully this will start a safety revolution before more people get killed and hurt.

[muswell-2009]

There won't be any safety revolution. Bangladesh is a horribly impoverished country. I would like to know which U.S. companies/stores were buying products from this Bangladeshi sweatshop so that we can put pressure on those U.S. companies to step up to the plate and push to ensure safer working conditions over there.

[hypnotoad72]

Good luck; companies use these locations due to lower "cost" and lack of regulations that might have saved these peoples' lives!

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.