AT LEAST 52 people were killed and scores wounded as a massive fire overnight engulfed a multi-storied food and beverage factory on the outskirts of Bangladesh’s capital, officials said on Friday. Fire service officials and witnesses said the blaze broke out on Thursday evening and tore through the factory at the Rupganj area of Narayanganj.

Residents in the neighbourhood said most of the factory workers were teenagers. “Fifty two people have been killed so far but we fear more bodies were inside and a search operation is underway,” a district administration official told reporters at the scene, nearly 25 kilometres east of Dhaka.

Fire service officials said 49 bodies have been recovered from the building while others succumbed to their wounds on way to or at hospitals, where many were being treated for critical wounds.

Television footage showed the fire was still burning at the six-story structure, emitting thick smoke while fire service officials said their search campaign continued alongside efforts to extinguish the blaze. “The fire originated on the fourth floor where we nearly completed the search operation but we are yet to look for bodies on the fifth and sixth floors,” a fire service official told a private TV channel. Scores of people were rushed to health facilities in Narayanganj and the capital Dhaka.