Bangladesh Factory Fire Kills 8 People in Dhaka

Only two weeks after more than 900 people died in an eight-storey factory collapse, police say a garment factory fire in an industrial district in Dhaka has killed at least 8 people on Wednesday night.

The fire, which swept through a factory belonging to the Tung Hal Group, a large garment exporter, occurred in the Mirpur area of the Bangladeshi capital overnight.

“It was a big fire but we managed to confine it on one floor,” Mahbubur Rahman, operations director of Bangladesh’s fire service, told AFP news agency.

He added that the victims had suffocated after rushing to a stairwell, and being overwhelmed by “toxic smoke from burnt acrylic clothing”.

Among the victims who died of suffocation was the owner of the factory, who was said to be holding a meeting in the 11-storey building. But the police and fire officials reported that that there was no worker amongst the victims as there was no overnight production.

President of the Bangladesh Garment Manufcaturers and Exporters Association, Mohammed Atiqul Islam, told Reuters news agency, “It is not clear to us how the accident happened, but we are trying to find out the cause.”

Only on Wednesday, the government announced that it had shut down 18 garment factories for safety reasons following the April 24 Rana Plaza collapse, the worst garment manufacturing disaster in the world that has seen the deaths of over 900 people.

Over 100 Houses Set Ablaze in Fresh Anti-Muslim Violence in Myanmar

According to residents of Okkan, 110km north of Yangon, a deadly anti-Muslim violence flared up on Tuesday, leading to the death of at least one person and several others injured after a mob of angry Buddhists overran two mosques and set fire to hundreds of homes.

Eye witness accounts indicates that the Buddhists, numbering about 400, went on a rampage through the town of Okkan, armed with bricks and sticks.

Two mosques were overrun and looted in the process, while over 100 Muslim homes were burned to the ground by the angry mob.

According to an old shopkeeper in Okkan, Khin Maung Than, “they came around 1pm and most of the people were from this town, not from outside. There were around 50 of them.”

Distressed villagers in Chauk Tal, an outlying village, were struggling to put out the blaze as several structures were still burning down as at Tuesday night with intense ferocity.

This incident is the latest anti-Muslim violence to shake Myanmar since late March.

Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch released a report in which they accused the Myanmar government , security forces, Buddhist monks and other politicians of running a campaign of ‘ethnic cleansing’ against the Rohingya muslims.

Fire at Bangladesh Collapse Halts Rescue Effort

There was a fire outbreak late Sunday in the wreckage of the Bangladesh 8-storey garment factory that collapsed days ago.

According to the reports by rescuers, there was smoke sipping out from a pile of shattered concrete, which forced the rescuers to temporarily stop their efforts, while hundreds of people are still trapped beneath the rubble.

Syed al-Amin Roman, a volunteer rescuer, said that the flames suddenly broke out when sparks were generated by those rescuers trying to cut through a steel rod to reach a woman.

Firefighters reported to the scene to put out the flames as the rescuers retreated from the area. Brig. Gen. Mohammed Siddiqul Alam Shikder, who is overseeing the rescue operations, said that they will be able to control it, hopefully.

The incident occurred only a few hours after Mohammed Sohel Rana, owner of the illegally-constructed building, was arrested in Benapole in western Bangladesh as he was about to flee into Bengal state, west India.

He has being brought back to Bangladesh to face a court trial for negligence.

Fire at Psychiatric Hospital in Russia kills 38

38 people have been killed in a blaze that tore through a wing of a psychiatric hospital near Moscow, according to Russian officials on Friday. The victims include 36 patients and two members of staff.

Luckily, 3 people escaped the fire unhurt as there were originally 41 people in the building early Friday, according to a report from Russian Emergencies Ministries.

According to investigators, when the alarm went off, the off-duty nurse was only able to evacuate two patients due to the heavy smoke. most of the victims were believed to be asleep at that time.

It took more than an hour for firefighters to arrive at the scene due to a river crossing that was closed as a result of flooding.

According to a statement released by the Russia's Investigative Committee, there is a preliminary information indicating that the source of the fire was a sofa utilised in the common room.

Russiaan President Vladimir Putin has called for an investigation into the blaze. he has urged the acting governor in the area, law enforcement agencies, the health ministry, and other local officials to ensure survivors are properly assistted.