Bangladesh factory fire ‘an act of sabotage’

DHAKA (AFP) ― A fire that killed 111 workers at a Bangladesh garment factory last month was an act of sabotage and managers at the plant prevented victims from escaping, the head of an official inquiry said Monday.

Speaking to AFP after submitting his report on the tragedy to the government, Main Uddin Khandaker also said his team had recommended the owner should face murder charges over the deadliest fire ever at a Bangladeshi garment factory.

The factory, based on the outskirts of Dhaka, was supplying clothes to a variety of international brands including U.S. giant Walmart, Dutch retailer C&A and ENYCE, a label owned by U.S. rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs.

“We have found that the fire that gutted Tazreen Fashion factory in Ashulia was an act of sabotage,” Khandaker said.

“The statements of the witnesses revealed that it was an act of sabotage. There was no possibility of the fire originating due to an electric short-circuit or any other reason,” he added, without suggesting who might have triggered the fire or why.

He said the fire was small when it broke out on the night of Nov. 24 in the middle of the factory warehouse in the ground floor.

“But there was no attempt to douse it. We suggested that the government set up a taskforce to find out the people responsible for this heinous act,” he added.

Khandaker also said his inquiry team would recommend that Delwar Hossain, the owner of the factory in the Ashulia industrial district, should face murder charges for “gross negligence and unpardonable crime.”

“We have suggested legal action against him and nine of his mid-level managers who barred the workers from leaving the burning factory,” he said.

The owner told reporters after the blaze that he believed it was started deliberately but gave no details.

The victims, mostly women who were paid as little as $37 a month, found themselves overcome by smoke or jumped from elevated windows. Firefighters have said that all three of the fire exits led to the ground floor.

Fire investigators had earlier said the nine-storey factory lacked a valid safety license at the time and only had permission for three floors.

Abdus Salam, a member of the inquiry committee, told AFP that the building lacked proper fire exits on the upper floors.

“All fire exits led to the ground floor. The staircases were not enclosed or separated, which allowed the smoke to easily spread to the upper floors,” Salam said.

“The workers were trapped or just had to jump from the upper floors. Still the casualties would have been much less had the supervisors allowed the workers to leave the factory when the fire broke out.”

The garment industry, which accounts for up 80 percent of Bangladesh’s $24.3 billion annual export, is the mainstay of the impoverished country’s economy. Its 4,500 garment factories account for 40 percent of the industrial workforce.

Around 700 people have been killed in fires in garment factories since 2006.

Western retailers have openly criticized Bangladesh factories for not ensuring workers safety but major brands continue to place orders.