Factory fire claims five lives in Bangladeshi capital Dhaka

At least five people are dead after a fire broke out at a shoe manufacturing plant in Dhaka, Bangladeshi firefighters and police said on Friday.
The fire broke out early Friday at Romana Rubber, a small, tin-roofed factory producing shoe soles in a densely populated old part of the Bangladeshi capital, said Rashid Bin Khaled, an official at the Fire Service and Civil Defence department.
He said firefighters rescued seven workers from the scene before the blaze burnt the factory to ash. Five of them were declared dead at a nearby hospital, and the others were undergoing treatment at the health facilities, he added.
Eight firefighting engines took more than two hours to douse the blaze, he said. adding that the cause of the fire could not be ascertained immediately.
Alok Kumar Biswas, a police officer, said an investigation was launched to determine the reason behind the fire.
He said the factory used to produce shoe soles for the domestic market.
Deaths in factory fires are common in Bangladesh due to lax implementation of law and poor workplace safety.
In July, a devastating fire at a food processing factory outside Dhaka killed at least 52 workers.