Bangladesh Tazreen factory fire was sabotage - inquiry

BBC News, 17 December 2012

Mid-level officials prevented workers from leaving the burning building,
the official inquiry found

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An official inquiry into a factory fire in Bangladesh which killed more than 100 workers last month has said the blaze was an act of sabotage.

The head of the inquiry told the BBC the owner of the Tazreen factory had been seriously negligent.

Main Uddin Khandaker also said nine mid-level officials prevented workers from leaving the building, which was making clothes for Western retailers.

Fatal fires are common in Bangladesh's large garment manufacturing sector.

The latest report contradicts initial suggestions by fire service officials that the blaze could have been started by poor electrical wiring.

No fire certificate

Mr Khandaker said the inquiry would recommend action against the factory owner.

He did not say who could have carried out the sabotage or what the motive might have been.

The factory owner, Delwar Hossain, has previously denied allegations that the building was unsafe to work in.

He told reporters after the blaze that he believed it was started deliberately but gave no details.

In all, at least 110 people died in the 24 November fire at the Tazreen factory, in the Ashulia district on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka.

Thousands of people joined street protests afterwards, demanding better protection.

The factory's fire safety certificate had lapsed in June and was no longer valid, the head of the fire service and civil defence told the BBC last week.

The building stood nine storeys high but only had permission for three floors.

The plant made clothes for Western retailers including Walmart, C&A and The Edinburgh Woollen Mill.

Four days after the fire, three supervisors were arrested and accused of stopping workers from leaving the building and of padlocking exits.

Government officials said preliminary information suggested the blaze was an act of sabotage.

There are about 4,500 factories in Bangladesh, employing more than two million people.

Clothes account for up to 80% of Bangladesh's $24bn (£15bn) annual exports.

In December 2010, a wiring problem led to a fire in another clothes factory in the same industrial zone, leaving at least 25 people dead.

Related Article:

Garment factory blaze kills 109 in Bangladesh