|
|
|
  |
| Sunday, 9 January 2005 |
 |
|
 |
World |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Bangladesh workers traped in deadly factory fire, Saturday (AFP) Locked doors and metal window grilles trapped workers at a Bangladeshi garment factory where at least 21 people died in a fire, an 11-year-old survivor said Friday. Underage worker Shamol Hossen, who lost three relatives in the fire, said he and around 35 workers found themselves stranded on the third floor as flames swept through the building during Thursday's evening shift. "There were 35 people on my floor but the door up to the roof and the door going down to the second floor were both locked," he told AFP. "The lights had gone out and there was smoke everywhere. I couldn't breathe. I pressed my nose against the metal grille on the window and shouted for help." Local people used bamboo ladders to reach the third floor and prised off a grille, allowing Shamol to climb out. He used a knotted length of cloth to lower himself out of the burning building but his cousin, sister and brother-in-law died. Around 150 people were at work in the four-storey Sun Knitting and Processing factory at Godnail, 20 kilometres (12 miles) east of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, when the fire broke out. |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Produced by Lake House |
