A fire at a Bangladeshi food and beverage factory has claimed the lives of at least fifty persons, the majority of them are believed to be children.
The fire started Thursday evening in Rupgani, 15 miles away from the capital city Dhaka, at Hashem Food and Beverages factory.
Officials say some workers were forced to jump from the upper floors to escape the flames, and 52 bodies have been recovered from the five-story building.
Another 30 people were injured in the fire, which began on the ground floor, and are being treated at a nearby hospital.
According to Debasish Bardhan, Deputy Director of the Fire Service and Civil Defense, 49 bodies have been recovered from inside the factory so far, and rescue operations are still ongoing.
A legal investigation has been initiated, with three police teams dispatched to investigate, according to police official Abdullah Al Mamun, who also stated that individuals responsible for the fire would face legal consequences.
Families of the workers have been demonstrating outside the business, demanding searches for their loved ones after it was claimed that the factory was shut from the inside.
The factory, which processes juices and soft drinks, employs almost 7,000 workers and a large number of them are children.
The circumstances surrounding the blaze and how it started are currently unknown, with the number of people inside the factory at the time also not available.
It is the latest deadly blaze at a factory in Bangladesh which has killed hundreds of people, with some leading to protests against workplace conditions.
At least 117 people were killed in November 2012 after a garment factory on the outskirts of Dhaka went up in flames.
The deadliest factory fire in the nation’s history was a blaze at the Tazreen Fashion factory, which saw 200 people injured.
