Fire in Bangladesh garment factory kills 8

A major fire engulfed several floors of a garment factory in Bangladesh killing eight persons, including its managing director, a top police official and a ruling party politician, two weeks after the worst industrial disaster in the country claimed over 900 lives.
The victims were having a meeting late last night on the ninth floor at the managing director's office after the factory was closed when the fire broke out in the 11-storey building housing the factory and a residential complex here, officials of the fire service and police said.
Managing director of the Tung Hai Sweater factory Mahbubur Rahman, Deputy Inspector General of Police Z A Morshed and Awami League's youth wing leader Sohel Mostafa Swapan were among the dead as the fire broke out�on several floors of building.

"The casualty was less as the factory was closed when the fire broke out," a supervisor of the factory told reporters at the scene.
Fire apparently ignited from an electric short circuit, officials said.
The fire broke out on the second floor of the building and quickly spread on the third and fourth floors where the factory was housed, they said.

Five persons were declared brought dead as they were rushed to Dhaka medical college hospital while they appeared to have suffered also from suffocation caused by the fire, a doctor at the state-run facility said.
As many as 13 fire fighting units tamed the flames after about two hours of frantic efforts, local media reported.

The incident comes nearly two weeks after a building housing garment factories collapsed in Bangladesh, killing 931 people.
Bangladesh has closed down 18 garment factories temporarily as part of its efforts to allay fears of international buyers and rights groups over safety and labour standards in the country's beleaguered apparel sector.