Bangladesh factory owners to stand trial over deadly fire

Dhaka

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A Bangladesh court on Thursday ordered two garment factory owners and 11 others to stand trial for causing the death of 111 workers, almost three years after the country's worst industrial fire.

Delwar Hossain and his wife Mahmuda Akter were formally charged over the blaze that tore through the Tazreen factory on Dhaka's outskirts, trapping workers who stitched clothes for Western retailers.

"The court charged the 13 including Delwar and his wife with causing death by negligence," prosecutor Khandakar Abdul Mannan said outside the district court in Dhaka.

"The judge ordered a trial from October 1 when witness testimonies will be recorded," Mannan told AFP. 

The November 2012 fire shone an international spotlight on appalling safety and other conditions in Bangladesh's $25 billion garment industry.

But the disaster was followed by an even bigger tragedy less than 12 months later, when the nine-storey Rana Plaza garment complex collapsed killing 1,138 people.

Mannan said the 13 charged over the blaze, who also include factory managers and security guards, face a maximum of ten years in jail if convicted of their roles in the fire.

Eight of those charged, including the owners, were present in court on Thursday, while the five others were still on the run, he said.

Deadly accidents are common in Bangladesh's 4,500 garment factories, which are a mainstay of the impoverished country's economy.

But factory owners, who are often powerful players in Bangladesh business and politically connected, rarely face charges.

- 'A clear message' -

Tazreen, in the Ashulia industrial district, supplied clothes to a variety of international brands including US giant Walmart, Dutch retailer C&A and ENYCE, a label owned by US rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs.

 The factory's managing director Hossain and his wife, the chairwoman, were accused of breaching construction rules including building unsafe staircases in the nine-storey complex.

 The pair have pleaded not guilty. Their lawyer could not be contacted for comment.

 Labour rights activist Kalpona Akter welcomed the trial, saying it would send "a clear message to errant entrepreneurs who overlook safety issues in their factories".

 "It's possibly the first time that the owners of a garment plant are being tried for their roles in the deaths of workers in a factory fire," Akter, the executive director of the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity, told AFP.

 State factory inspectors -- whose role is to ensure safety at the plants -- avoided charges, however, despite accusations by worker rights groups that they allowed the owners to operate without regular monitoring.

 "Unfortunately the government's factory inspectors, who had a huge role in the tragedy, were not indicted for the crime," Akter said.

 Victims of the fire, mostly women who were paid as little as $37 a month, found themselves overcome by smoke as factory gates were locked and were forced to jump from windows on upper floors, police have said.

 Some managers and security guards insisted that workers return to their duties even though smoke was billowing from the ground floor where the fire started, according to a police investigation report.

 The Rana Plaza collapse in April 2013 and other disasters prompted sweeping reforms including new safety inspections and higher wages in the industry, which employs around four million workers.