Fire broke out in the wool warehouse of the 10-storey factory Convince Apparels Ltd around 11:45am, which firefighters believed started from an electric short circuit or a burning cigarette.

Around 1,500 workers came out of the factory building within 20 minutes. No one was injured in the blaze.

The factory staff first tried to extinguish the fire. Later, the firefighters rushed to the spot and doused the fire after two hours.

Witnesses said some officials and staff of the factory got annoyed with the newsmen attempting to take snaps and collecting information. They obstructed the journalists that led to an altercation.

"At one stage, the officials assaulted the journalists confining them to the eighth floor of the factory building," said a reporter. A director of a nearby garment unit shouted at the newsmen at that time, saying they should be killed by shooting, the reporter said.

Police rushed to the spot and clubbed the factory staff. They also picked up three staff.

Rafez Alam Chowdhury, managing director of the factory, said some of their staff misbehaved with the journalists as the journalists were asking them questions when they were trying to extinguish the fire.