112 dies in Garments factory fire

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

Hasina and Awami sees Jamat in their sleep. Now that she said, I don't believe it even if it is true.

 

[Skull and Bones]

RIP to the deceased.

Proper safety plans has to ensured by the govt before giving them industrial license.

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

Another woman tried to set fire on another garments after taking 20000 Taka...but it was seen by another woman who shouted and brought more people and brought the fire under control.

???????? ???? ???????? ???? ?????? ?????? - ????? ???

 

[Gandhi G in da house]

May their souls rest in peace

 

[Sugarcane]

Sad incident. R.I.P

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

But I was expecting from PM Hasina also to say something why the gate was locked for which no body could not come out fromt he building instead just placing the blame of the fire on Jamaat indirectly.

 

[TopCat]

There is a reason why FIRE EXIT gate in USA does not have a lock from inside. Anybody can get out without the key except it just turn on the siren. Cant we follow the same standard.

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

BGMEA boss finds no fault with Tazreen


BGMEA boss finds no fault with Tazreen | Business | bdnews24.com

Mon, Nov 26th, 2012 11:06 pm BdST

Dhaka, Nov 26 (bdnews24.com) -- While foreign buyers were not apparently happy with safety measures of Tazreen Fashions, where 110 workers died after a fire broke out on Saturday, the sector's apex body has claimed the factory was a compliant one.

"It is a large, ultra-modern, compliant factory," Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told a press conference on Monday.

Tazreen was rated "orange", which stands for high risk safety rating after a May 2011 audit conducted by an "ethical sourcing" assessor assigned by Wal-Mart, the world's largest retail chain stores, according to a post on the Tuba Group's website. The group is the parent company of Tazreen Fashions.

Mohiuddin on Monday indicated that the incident at Tazreen Fashions could be a sabotage.

"We don't want to rule out the possibility," he said. "International and local conspiracies with the garment sector are not impossible. And there is a possibility that it's pre-planned to destabilise the industry. These matters should be examined," he added.

Five panels from the government, administration, police and fire department are probing the incident.

Later Monday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also told Parliament that the fire at the factory was set in a pre-planned way.

Many of the survivors alleged that the main gate was locked from outside when the fire started spreading to upper floors.

The trade unions have termed the incident 'an act of murder' and blamed the owners for it.

On the report that the factory had no emergency exit from outside, Mohiuddin would not comment on that. He did not give any idea if the owners were taking the responsibility for the carnage.

A two-page statement that he read out had no mention of anything whether the factory had any infrastructural weakness.

"We want to understand whether there was any act of sabotage behind this or we had any weakness," he said.

"But we came to know that the workers could not get out of the factory after the blaze broke out. Why? We have to know that," he said.

On that the gate was locked, Mohiuddin said, "Those who did not let the workers come out would have to be found."

On why the owner of the factory, Delwar Hossain, or any of his officials were not available since Saturday's disaster, the BGMEA President said, "They are in touch with us. They also know the latest updates of the injured workers through representatives," Mohiuddin said.

bdnews24.com/rb/ost/jr/2256h

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

26 Nov 2012 07:33:39 PM Monday BdST

Debunia garment fire for Tk 20,000
Staff Correspondent
banglanews24.com

Debunia garment fire for Tk 2 ,

DHAKA: A worker of Debunia garment in Ashulia admitted to setting fire to the factory taking Tk 20,000 from an official of the factory.

Sumi Begum confessed before the Senior Judicial Magistrate court of Wasim Sheikh.

Earlier, two accused—Sumi Begum and Jakir Hosaain--were produced before the court which later placed Jakir Hossain on four-day remand.

Sumi Begum confessed that she had set the fire after getting Tk 20,000 from official Jakir Hossain.

Earlier, a fire broke out at the factory and the factory authority detected Sumi after watching the video of CCTV camera.

Later, general manger of the factory Nirodh Barua filed a case with Ashulia Thana in this connection.

Investigation officer Farid Ahmed said police is investigating whether some others are involved in the fire.

BDST: 1944 HRS, NOV 26, 2012
Edited by: Abul Kalam Azad, Newsroom Editor/ M. Mahbub Alam, Asst Output Editor / SM Salahuddin, Output Editor

 

[IndoUS]

Is this hosaain guy, a worker or part owner of the company? Or some kind of corporate fighting thing?
Insurance fraud kind of thing??

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

Is this hosaain guy, a worker or part owner of the company? Or some kind of corporate fighting thing?
Insurance fraud kind of thing??

Many thing can happen. That guy is a worker not co owner. This is not new in the garment industry. Most of the strike and destruction of garment industry in recent years have been done by taking money and by some outsiders. Many pointed out India was /is behind that.

Anyway this can not be the case with insurance fraud as the fire was brought under control. For your info this is separate incident that happened today apart from the thread starting incident. Specially in cases where people dies and it becomes more then 100 dead definitely it becomes a global issue. No one will take such risk.

But these incidents have given Bangladesh a bad name in the international arena. Already lots of campaign are there against Bangladesh's RMG industry. This will add another dimension.

For your info PM Hasina placed the blame on Jamaat as she said they are trying to sabotage the war crime trial.

Allah knows best who were responsible but definitely garment owners are at fault as they kept the main gate locked and for that no one could not go out.

 

[fallstuff]

There is a reason why FIRE EXIT gate in USA does not have a lock from inside. Anybody can get out without the key except it just turn on the siren. Cant we follow the same standard.

Fire exits don't have any lock, its a push bar with an alarm.

 

[indian_jigar]

RIP to the deceased...

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

Walmart distances itself from Bangladesh factory fire that killed at least 112


Published November 26, 2012
Associated Press

Nov. 26, 2012: A man takes photographs inside a garment-factory where a fire killed more than 110 people Saturday on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. (AP)

DHAKA, Bangladesh – The garment factory in Bangladesh where a weekend fire killed at least 112 people had been making clothes for Walmart without the giant U.S. retailer's knowledge, Walmart said Monday.

In a statement, Walmart said that the Tazreen Fashions Ltd. factory was no longer authorized to produce merchandise for Walmart, but that a supplier subcontracted work to it "in direct violation of our policies."

"Today, we have terminated the relationship with that supplier," America's biggest retailer said. "The fact that this occurred is extremely troubling to us, and we will continue to work across the apparel industry to improve fire safety education and training in Bangladesh."

The blaze on Saturday was one of the deadliest fires of its kind in Bangladesh and threw a spotlight on the way the country's garment factories often ignore safety in the rush to supply major retailers in the U.S. and Europe. More than 200 people have died over the past six years in garment factory fires in Bangladesh, including a blaze that killed 63 in 2006.

Survivors of the latest tragedy said that an exit door was locked, that fire extinguishers didn't work and apparently were there just to impress inspectors, and that when the fire alarm went off, workers were told by their bosses to go back to their sewing machines. Victims were trapped or jumped to their deaths from the eight-story building, which had no emergency exits.

On Monday, about 15,000 Bangladeshi workers protested blocks from the gutted building in the Dhaka suburb of Savar, demanding justice for the victims and improved safety. Some 200 factories were closed for the day after the protest erupted. Demonstrators blocked a major highway, threw stones at factories and smashed vehicles.

Labor leaders hope outrage over the latest disaster will prompt change. Tahmina Rahman, general secretary of the Bangladesh Garment Workers Federation, said the group wants the government to work harder to punish factories for safety lapses.

"The owners go unpunished and so they don't care about installing enough security facilities," she said. "The owners should be held responsible and sent to jail."

Walmart did not say why it dropped the Tazreen factory. But in its 2012 Global Responsibility report, Walmart said it stopped working with 49 factories in Bangladesh in 2011 because of fire safety issues. And online records appear to indicate the factory was given a "high risk" safety rating after an inspection in May 2011 and a "medium risk" rating in August 2011.

Maj. Mohammad Mahbub, fire department operations director, said investigators suspect a short circuit caused the fire at the factory, which was making T-shirts and polo shirts.

But the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association urged investigators not to rule out sabotage.

"Local and international conspirators are trying to destroy our garment industry," association President Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin said. He provided no details.

Mahbub said it was the lack of safety measures in the building that made the blaze so deadly. "Had there been at least one emergency exit through outside the factory, the casualties would have been much lower," he said.

He said firefighters recovered at least 100 bodies from the factory, and 12 more people died at hospitals after jumping from the building. Local media reported that about 100 injured people were being treated at hospitals.

The government was unable to identify many victims because they were burned beyond recognition; they were buried Monday in a grave outside Dhaka. The government said Tuesday will be a day of national mourning, with the flag lowered to half-staff.

Mohammad Ripu said he tried to run out of the building when the fire alarm rang but was stopped.

"Managers told us, `Nothing happened. The fire alarm had just gone out of order. Go back to work,"' Ripu said. "But we quickly understood that there was a fire. As we again ran for the exit point we found it locked from outside, and it was too late."

Ripu said he jumped from a second-floor window and suffered minor injuries.
Another worker, Yeamin, who uses only one name, said fire extinguishers in the factory didn't work, and "were meant just to impress the buyers or authority."

TV footage showed a team of investigators finding some unused fire extinguishers inside the factory.

Tazreen Fashions Is a subsidiary of the Tuba Group, a major Bangladeshi garment exporter whose clients include Walmart, Carrefour and IKEA, according to its website. Its factories supply garments to the U.S., Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands, among other countries. The Tazreen factory opened in 2009 and employed about 1,700 people.

Neither Tazreen nor Tuba Group officials could be reached for comment.

Bangladesh has some 4,000 garment factories. The country earns about $20 billion a year from exports of garments, mainly to the U.S. and Europe.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association said it would stand by the victims' families and offered $1,250 to each of the families of the dead.


Read more: Walmart distances itself from Bangladesh factory fire that killed at least 112 | Fox News

 

[Sashan]

RIP to the dead. Saddened me on reading the news.