Locked door to roof, toxic gas blamed for deaths in Bangladesh factory fire


A firefighter sprays water from a multi-storey building to douse the fire that broke out at a garment factory and a chemical warehouse in Dhaka, Bangladesh, October 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain

DHAKA (Reuters) -Toxic gas and a locked door that barred access to a roof were responsible for most of the deaths in a devastating fire in a Bangladesh garment factory and an adjoining chemical warehouse, a fire official said on Wednesday.

The disaster in Dhaka on Tuesday killed 16 and critically injured several more. It cast a spotlight on Bangladesh’s poor record on industrial safety, despite improvements following deadly incidents in 2012 and 2013 that drew global attention to unsafe working conditions.

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