Bangladesh fruit juice factory owner arrested after 52 dead in Narayanganj fire

Dhaka: Bangladesh fruit juice factory owner along with seven other people were arrested after 52 people were killed in the Narayanganj blaze.

"Among the 8, one of them is the owner of the factory and his staff," Zaidul Alam, the Police Superintendent of Narayanganj district in Bangladesh told CNN. As many as 52 people have died and 50 others were injured after a fire broke out in a juice factory in Bangladesh's Narayanganj city on Thursday afternoon.

The fire started on Thursday afternoon on the ground floor of a six-story Hashem Foods Ltd factory in Rupganj, east of the capital Dhaka, Debashis Bardhan, Deputy Director of the Fire Service and Civil Defense said, reported CNN.

The presence of chemicals and flammable substances like polythene and clarified butter contributed to the blaze in the factory, and made it more difficult to bring under control, the state-run Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) news agency reported.

Three people died when they jumped off the roof on Thursday after suffering burns from the blaze, BSS reported, citing Abdul Al Arifin, the Narayanganj District Deputy Director of the Fire Service and Civil Defence.

Almost none of the bodies recovered on Friday could be recognized, BSS reported, citing Fire Service and Civil Defense Director Lieutenant Colonel Zillur Rahman.

The fire was brought under control by Friday afternoon, BSS reported, and relatives of missing workers were staging demonstrations outside and around the factory premises, reported CNN.

Police have opened an investigation into the cause of the fire and a large number of deaths.