A tragic fire broke out at a plastic toy manufacturing factory in Keraniganj on the outskirts of Dhaka, claiming the life of an 18-year-old worker and leaving two others critically injured. The incident occurred around noon on Monday at the Aman Plastic Factory, located inside an eight-story building owned by Shahjahan Majumdar in the Narikelbagh area under the Keraniganj Model Police Station jurisdiction. The deceased worker has been identified as Shakib Hasan, while the injured have been rushed to hospitals for urgent medical attention.
According to local residents and witnesses, thick black smoke and fierce flames suddenly engulfed the interior of the factory around 12:00 PM, triggering widespread panic among the workers and people in the surrounding neighborhood. Prompt alerts were sent to the local fire service station, and firefighting units swiftly rushed to the scene. Initially, five units initiated the firefighting operation, but due to the intensity of the blaze, three additional units were deployed. A total of eight firefighting units battled the inferno for nearly two hours before finally bringing the situation under control around 2:00 PM.
Fire service headquarters media officials reported that they received the emergency call at 12:25 PM and their personnel arrived at the scene within just seven minutes at 12:32 PM. Since the factory was utilized for producing plastic toys containing flammable chemicals and raw plastic materials, the fire spread rapidly across the premises. Fire department officials preliminarily suspect that the blaze might have originated from chemical substances used in toy production or potentially from an electrical short circuit.
As the fire spread, workers scrambled frantically to escape the multi-story building. During subsequent search and rescue operations inside the gutted facility, firefighters recovered the burnt body of Shakib Hasan. Two other severely injured workers, identified as Manik Ahmed (40) and Rakib Hossain (18), were rescued and immediately dispatched for medical treatment. Medical sources noted that Manik Ahmed sustained burns over almost his entire body, leaving him in an extremely critical condition.
The incident has once again ignited serious concerns regarding workplace safety, building codes, and regulatory oversight in industrial and residential zones across Keraniganj. Local community members and safety advocates have raised questions regarding the authorization and safety compliance of factories operating in densely populated areas without adequate fire-fighting infrastructure. Authorities and law enforcement agencies have secured the area as investigations continue to determine the exact cause of the disaster and whether proper safety protocols were maintained.
