DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — The two owners of a Bangladesh
garment factory who are facing homicide charges for a 2012 fire that
killed 112 workers surrendered to a court Sunday and were denied bail.
The
factory outside the capital, Dhaka, which produced clothing for big
retailers including Wal-Mart, had no emergency exits and its location in
a narrow alley prevented firefighters from responding quickly to the
deadly blaze in November 2012, said prosecutor Anwarul Kabir Babul.
The
investigation found that when the fire broke out, managers and security
guards told workers it was part of a regular drill and it was too late
for many to escape. Workers found the gates locked from outside as the
fire engulfed the sprawling building, according to the investigation.
Police
filed homicide charges Dec. 22 against 13 people in connection with the
fire, including the owners of Tazreen Fashions Ltd., Delwar Hossain and
his wife, Mahmuda Akter. Arrest warrants were issued Dec. 31 for six
who police said had fled, including the two owners.
After Hossain
and Akter surrendered Sunday, a Dhaka court rejected their bail petition
and ordered them to be jailed, pending further legal procedures.
If
found guilty, the accused face a minimum of seven years and up to life
in prison, Babul said. Of the 13 accused, four are still at large.
It’s
the first time Bangladesh has sought to prosecute factory owners in its
lucrative garment industry, which is the world’s second largest after
China.
The fire is one of several deadly disasters that have
exposed harsh and unsafe working conditions in Bangladesh’s garment
industry. A factory collapse last April killed more than 1,100 workers.
The
impoverished South Asian nation earns more than $20 billion a year from
garment exports, mainly to the United States and Europe.
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