10 killed in Bangladesh factory blast

DHAKA - A boiler explosion at a Bangladeshi garment factory killed 10 people and injured dozens, fire officials said on Tuesday, the latest mishap to hit one of the world's biggest garment producers.

The accident happened late on Monday at a plant owned by Multifabs Limited, a Bangladeshi company on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka, a fire official said.

The firm supplies knitted apparel to clients in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Russia, Spain, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, including to Littlewoods, one of Britain's oldest retail brands, according to its website.

"Nine people were killed in the blast and one died in hospital," fire service official Palash Chandra Modak said.

The company said the plant was functioning well and the boiler, procured from Germany, had just been serviced. The factory had been shut for 10 days for the Eid al-Fitr period at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and was being readied to resume operations from Tuesday.

"This was an accident. Everything was fine," said Mahiuddin Faruqui, company chairman and managing director.

"The boiler was running well. After servicing when workers were trying to restart it, it went off," he said.

Bangladesh's garment-making industry, the biggest in the world after China's, employs 4 million people and generates 80 percent of its export earnings.

Multifabs started operating in 1992, and earned $70 million in exports in last year.

Bangladesh's garment sector came under scrutiny after the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory complex in 2013 that killed more than 1,100 people, and a fire at a garment factory in 2012 that killed 112 workers.

Activists had long criticized many retailers for failing to improve working conditions in their supply chains, with long hours, low pay, poor safety standards and workers not being allowed to form trade unions.

The Rana Plaza disaster sparked demands for greater safety and put the onus to act on foreign companies sourcing clothing from Bangladesh.

Two coalitions have been formed to help fund improvements to building and fire safety at garment factories.

One of those, the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, said fire incidents in Bangladeshi factories fell to 30 in 2015 from 250 in 2012.

Reuters