Bangladesh police arrest two owners following inferno that killed seven garment workers

VANCOUVER DESI

Sewing machines are photographed following a fire at a garment factory in Dhaka on Jan. 27, 2013. Munir uz Zaman ZAMAN/AFP/Getty Images

Bangladesh continues to be plagued by questions about its garment industry following another factory fire, this one claiming the lives of seven workers in Dhaka.

Police arrested two owners of the operation as officers investigate allegations of murder and negligence.

According to police, the only emergency exit of the Smart factory was locked from the outside when the fire began Saturday night. Smart Export Garment Ltd. Chairman Sharif Ahmed and Managing Director Zakir Ahmed remain in police custody.

The weekend fire erupted two months after the infamous blaze at a Tazreen Fashions Ltd.-owned factory that resulted in the deaths of 112 workers. The gates of that factory also were locked.

Massive protests demanding beefed-up safety regulations for the country’s garment industry endured for weeks after the Tazreen factory fire. The company had exported to major Western retailers, including Walmart.

A government committee set up to investigate the fire said in December that the fire was sabotage, but also said that no matter who set it, the owner should be punished for the deaths because he neglected worker safety.

Fires have caused more than 600 deaths of garment workers in Bangladesh since 2005, according to research by the advocacy group International Labor Rights Forum.

— With a file from The Associated Press

Tags: Bangladesh, fire, garment factory