Bangladesh has seen several deadly factory fire tragedies in recent years. According to expert’s sayings, lack of proper fire safety measures is the main reason causing these devastating accidents.
A devastating factory fire tragedy at the Shezan Juice factory on July 8 2021 shook the whole country killing 52 people and injuring over 50 people. The six-storied factory is situated in Narayanganj, southeast of Dhaka, owned by the private firm Hashem Food and Beverage, a unit of Bangladesh’s multinational Sajeeb Group. 18 firefighting units were working to douse the fire for almost 22 hours. It was suspected that the fire started from the ground floor and spread quickly due to the presence of highly flammable chemicals all over the factory. Each building floor is about 35,000 square feet (3,250 square meters) but was accessible only by two stairways, which many workers couldn’t get to as the fire had spread there. Some escaped to the roof from the stairs and were rescued, but many couldn’t, as a door leading to the roof was locked. Without seeing any other option, several workers jumped off the building to save their lives from the fire. Some Workers were locked on the fourth floor for more than 2 hours after the fire broke out and burned to death.
