Many killed in Bangladesh fire

The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

Labour rights groups say Bangladesh has around 4,000 textile factories and many of them are prone to fires as a result of poor safety standards.

The textile industry in Gazipur district, located 50km north of the capital Dhaka, is one of the country’s most important, accounting for more than $10 billion in exports annually, or 80 per cent of total exports mainly to the United States and Europe.