Eight die in Bangladesh clothing factory blaze just two weeks after building collapse that killed more than 900

A worker inspects burnt sweaters on the second floor of the building of the readymade garment factory after the devastating fire (EPA)

A fire tore through an 11-storey building housing a clothes factory and residential complex in Bangladesh's capital last night, killing at least eight people, including the owner.

The fire comes just two weeks after a building housing clothing factories collapsed in Bangladesh, killing at least 912 people, again raising concerns about safety measures in the country's £13 billion garment industry. In November, a fire at another factory killed 112 people.

Fire brigade officials said the latest blaze broke out last night and by early today, crews had found eight people dead, including a police officer and the factory's managing director.

The fire started not long after up to 300 workers at the Tung Hai Sweater factory went home for the day, fire official Nazrul Islam said. It burned parts of the first and second floors, which housed the factory, and parts of the third, which housed apartments.

It was not immediately clear how many of the dead were tenants of the building.

Bhajan Kumar Sarkar, another fire official, said the managing director of the factory, Mahbubur Rahman, and a police official were among the dead. All the dead had been found in the stairwell.

Mr Sarkar said it took more than three hours to bring the blaze under control.

AP