Bangladesh police said Sunday they plan to charge the owner of a garment factory over a fire that killed 111 people as they wrap up an investigation 12 months after the tragedy. Police officials said charges would be laid against 15 people including owner Delwar Hossain, security guards and managers over the fire that swept through the Tazreen factory that supplied clothes to Western retailers including Walmart.
"Delwar and his wife, who is the co-owner of the factory, are going to be charged with causing death due to negligence," Monsur Ali Mondol, a police investigator of the case, told AFP.
The fire - which broke out exactly 12 months ago - on the outskirts of Dhaka was the country's worst industrial inferno and shed an international light at the time on the appalling safety conditions of the country's $22 billion garment industry. "Our investigation is almost complete. We'll soon press the charges against around 15 people," said A.K.M Mohsinuzzaman Khan, another police inspector investigating the case.
The tragedy was dwarfed by an even bigger disaster months later in April at the Rana Plaza garment factory complex also on the outskirts of the capital which collapsed killing at least 1,135 people.
Factory owners are rarely charged over such tragedies in the sector, which is a mainstay of the impoverished country's economy, accounting to up to 80 percent of the Bangladesh's exports.
The Tazreen factory owner, who has since the tragedy been barred from leaving the country, has been accused of breaching construction rules including building staircases that were too narrow and unsafe.