- At least 110 people died when fire swept through a factory in the worst-ever blaze to hit Bangladesh's garment industry.
- Firefighters battled for several hours to contain the blaze, which broke out on the ground floor of the nine-story Tazreen Fashion plant 20 miles north of the capital Dhaka late on Saturday.
- Survivors told how panicked staff, most of them women, tried to escape the burning factory.
ASHULIA, Bangladesh -- At least 110 people died when fire swept through a factory in the worst-ever blaze to hit Bangladesh's garment industry, officials said Sunday, as witnesses told of desperate workers jumping from upper floors.
Firefighters battled for several hours to contain the blaze, which broke out on the ground floor of the nine-story Tazreen Fashion plant 20 miles north of the capital Dhaka late on Saturday.
Survivors told how panicked staff, most of them women, tried to escape the burning factory, which made clothes for international brands including the European chain C&A and the Hong Kong-based Li & Fung company.
"I smelt smoke and ran downstairs and found that the place was already full with black fumes," Rabiul Islam told AFP as he surveyed the gutted ruins of the building where many of his colleagues had died.
"With another worker, I broke open an exhaust fan in the second floor and jumped to the roof of a shed next to the factory," he said. "I broke my hand but survived somehow."
