18 Dec 2012

Factory fire found to be sabotage

6:05 am on 18 December 2012

An inquiry into a factory fire in Bangladesh last month that killed at least 110 people says it was an act of sabotage.

Contradicting initial suggestions by fire service officials that it could have been started by poor electrical wiring, the inquiry found the factory owner to have been seriously negligent.

Inquiry head Main Uddin Khandaker said employees were prevented from leaving the Tazreen factory after the fire broke out.

Mr Khandaker said the inquiry would recommend action against the factory owner, Delwar Hossain.

The BBC reports he did not say who could have carried out the sabotage or what the motive might have been.

Mr Hossain has previously denied accusations that the building was unsafe to work in.

He said after the blaze on 24 November that he believed it was started deliberately but gave no details.

The BBC reports fatal fires are common in Bangladesh's large garment manufacturing sector.

The nine-storey factory was in the Ashulia district on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka. It made clothing for Western retailers