Six killed as fire breaks out in Bangladesh spinning mill

A major fire broke out in a spinning mill in central Bangladesh, killing at least six people, officials said Wednesday, the latest incident raising questions on safety in Bangladeshi factories after a series of disasters. Eighteen fire tenders took 11 hours to control the blaze at the factory in Sreepur, near the capital Dhaka, the bad news reported.

The fire broke out around 2:30 pm on Tuesday at the cotton storage of Otto Spinning Limited, it said. The death toll in the spinning mill fire climbed to six as rescuers combed through the debris on Wednesday and found three charred bodies in the rubble of fire-ravaged factory, an official was quoted as saying.

Security personnel, trapped inside a toilet at the factory, was also among the deceased. A six-member probe panel has been formed by the local administration to look into the incident.

Low-cost manufacturing is the mainstay in Bangladesh, the world's second-largest clothes maker after China. But a series of industrial disasters in recent years have raised questions about its safety standards. Tighter controls have been introduced, but dozens of workers still die every year.

The pressure to increase the safety standards at the factories intensified after the 2013 Rana Plaza disaster when a complex of factories collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people.