Bangladesh factory fire kills 23, injures dozens more

Dhaka: A fire at a food and cigarette packaging factory in Bangladesh killed at least 23 people and injured dozens on Saturday, in the country's worst industrial accident since the Rana Plaza building collapse of 2013 in which over 1,100 people died.

Emergency officials feared the death toll could climb after a fire broke out in the Tongi industrial zone about 20 km (12 miles) north of the capital, Dhaka. The cause was not immediately known, but officials said a boiler explosion probably triggered the blaze at around 8 a.m. (0200 GMT) as workers prepared to swap shifts.

There were about 100 people inside the building when fire broke out," Mohammad Nayan, a worker who was helping with rescue efforts, told reporters.Officials at the site said over 20 fire fighting teams were working to quell the blaze at the Tampaco Foils plant, which caused the partial collapse of the factory building.

"We cannot confirm whether any people are inside or not, but our priority is to rescue them if there is anyone inside," Mohammad Akhtaruzzaman, a fire department official at the site, told Reuters over the phone.

Another fire official said that although the blaze was under control, there were still flames inside the building so fire fighters had been unable to search the debris.Fire department officials initially identified the factory as a garment packaging plant, but later clarified that it packs food and cigarettes.

The fire will further tarnish the industrial safety record of one of the world's top garment exporters. In the Rana Plaza disaster, 1,135 mainly garment industry workers were killed when a building collapsed outside Dhaka.The latest incident comes weeks after over 100 people fell ill when they inhaled gas that leaked from a fertilizer plant in the town of Chittagong in southern Bangladesh.