Firemen guess the holocaust at Shaan Knitting and Processing Limited at Godnail Jelepara in Narayanganj might have been caused by an electric short-circuit.

The factory staff said the number of casualties was so large because they got stuck in the four-storey building with only a side door open and both the main gate at the front and the emergency exit at the back shut fast.

After 18 long hours of frantic fight, the fire brigade could douse the blaze at 3:40pm yesterday.

No-one of the dead could be identified till yesterday evening. The bodies were so completely charred and disfigured that fire fighters could only recognise three as males and one female, with at least two children among them.

The bodies were buried yesterday afternoon at Pathantuli graveyard in Siddhirganj after conducting autopsy at Narayanganj General Hospital.

The injured were rushed to different clinics and hospitals in the vicinity and in Dhaka.

A number of workers suspected arson by the owner, who has been unable to pay their salaries for the last five months, an allegation the factory owner, Rahmat Ullah, brushed aside as baseless. The firemen, too, said it did not seem like sabotage to them. The workers were supposed to get their pays yesterday.

CONFINED, THEY DIE
Witnesses said sparks from an electric cable at the ironing section on the first floor caused the fire at around 9:15 Thursday night.

"Cloths piled at the ironing section caught the fire first. Within seconds, the entire floor was engulfed by raging flames," said Meherunnisa, a cutting section worker, who rushed downstairs with others to escape the hell.

In a minute or two, the fire spread to the other floors fuelled by fabrics scattered around and the power went out.

"A frightened man was screaming 'fire', 'fire' and asking the security in-charge to phone the fire brigade," Lal Mian, who was at the main gate, told The Daily Star.

Panicked workers running for their life found only a side door open that allows only one or two to pass at a time. The main entrance to plant was locked.

Surrounded by flames, people started to cry for help, but none came. Many of them climbed back to the second floor to escape through a rear exit, but that too was closed.

A group of workers managed to come out by breaking open a window on the first floor.

"I saw many of them faint and collapse on the second floor and trampled down by rushing crowd," Meherunnisa recounted yesterday afternoon.

As the fire engulfed the entire building, "Dense smoke covered the night sky and the desperate screams of the dying employees filled the whole area. It was a terrible experience," said Lal Mian.

The air was soon filled with the acrid smell of burnt human flesh. "We stood helplessly outside and saw them get roasted alive."

Two fire fighting units from Narayanganj, two from the fire brigade headquarters and one each from Sadarghat and Demra rushed to the spot at 12:10am yesterday. About a hundred firemen started to run seven pumps to extinguish the fire.

Fire fighters, the survivors and the locals who rushed to the area to help recovered 20 charred bodies that night from the building. Two more bodies were found in the morning.

"They are so badly burnt that it is difficult to tell who are males and who females," said Deputy Assistant Director of Fire Brigade and Civil Defence Farid Uddin Ahmed.

They succeeded in putting out the inferno at 3:40pm yesterday.

Fire fighters said, "There were enough fire extinguishing materials on every floor, but no-one used them."

Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) estimated the loss at more than Tk 50 crore.

Police said a process is underway to file a case.

27 MISSING
At 4:30pm yesterday, the heat on the third floor, where firemen had been trying to pacify the devouring element less than an hour ago, was too high for any one to stay more than a few minutes.

No-one knows whether any more body remains buried under the ashes of cloths and skeletons of machines.

A list 27 missing workers was prepared yesterday at the office of the local lawmaker, Gias Uddin. They are Dulu, Taruni, Sufia, Samirun, Fahima, Aslam, Sajeda, Mofazzal Hossain, Abedia Khatun, Ayesha Khatun, Champa, Kabil, Abdur Razzak, Masuda, Masum, Nargis, Jahangir, Faruq, Ali Ahmad, Russell, Shafiq, Billal Hossain, Abdur Razzak, Shimu, Saki and Salma Begum.

BKMEA TO COMPENSATE
The BKMEA expressed deep shock at the tragedy and promised to pay compensation to the victims' families.

BKMEA office bearers including its President Fazlul Haq, Gias Uddin and Narayanganj Municipality Chair Selina Hayat Ivy visited the spot, the injured at Narayanganj General Hospital and some of the victims' families.

The BKMEA formed a three-member committee headed by its Vice President Abu Ahmed Siddiq to investigate the incident, identify the dead and arrange treatment for the injured.

Two other committees formed by the local administration and the Fire Brigade and Civil Defence will also probe the cause of the fire and the damage it wrought.

The firemen said the Building Code was not properly followed in construction of the plant.

DEMRA FIRE
The fire that broke out at about 3:10am yesterday at Ghantighar Slum at Mir Hazaribagh in Demra burnt Jumman Ali, 30, to death and gutted around 90 shanties.

Ali, a gardener at Dhaka Shishu Park, was sleeping in the shack of one Hanufa Begum.

Firemen put out the fire that apparently had originated from an electric short circuit within 30 minutes, said the fire brigade.

According to their report, the fire gutted 90 shanties and the damage stood at Tk 3w lakh.

A number of political, trade, social and cultural organisations expressed their shock and concern over the Siddhirganj fire.