DHAKA — Relatives of workers killed in a fire at a packaging factory in Bangladesh have filed a murder case against the owner, police said on Monday, as the death toll from the disaster rose to 31.
Another 12 people are missing after the disaster on Saturday, the worst since the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment complex in 2013 that killed more than 1,100 people.
The government has launched an investigation into what caused the fire, but police in the industrial town of Tongi, where the Tampaco Foils Limited factory was located, said bereaved relatives had already filed a private lawsuit.
“A murder case was filed by relatives of a dead worker against eight people, including the owner and his wife,” Tongi police chief Firoz Talukdar said.
Police said they would launch a separate investigation into the murder allegation made by the family. Any decision on whether to bring charges would have to be taken by a court.
Talukdar said firefighters and soldiers engaged in search and rescue efforts had dug out two more bodies, but there was little hope of finding any survivors.
Around 70 people were also injured, some critically, in the fire at the factory, which packages food and cigarette products for local and foreign brands.
Saturday was the last working day at the factory before the workers were to go on leave for a week-long holiday for Eid Al-Adha, which falls on Tuesday.
The workers who died were nearing the end of their overnight shift when the explosion took place at around 6 a.m.
Thirteen people are being treated for burn injuries at the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, including six in critical condition, Mohammed Bacchu Mia, a police officer at the hospital, said Monday.
Anxious relatives crowded the hospital on Monday looking for their family members.
Rajesh Babu, who worked as a cleaner at the factory, has not been seen since Saturday, said his mother, Mina Rani Dey.
“He came to work early in the morning on Saturday. He has not returned,” Dey said, sobbing as she held a photograph of her son. “His father has become sick because our son has not returned.”
Factory safety is a major concern in Bangladesh, which has thousands of garment and packaging factories that supply products to global chains like Wal-Mart and H&M. A fire at a garment factory in a Dhaka suburb killed 112 workers in 2012. In 2013, a commercial complex near Dhaka housing five garment factories collapsed, killing 1,135 people, Bangladesh’s worst industrial disaster.
Those two disasters prompted Bangladesh’s government, global brands and the United Nations to work together to try to improve safety standards in the South Asian country’s factories.
