In the latest in a series of deadly incidents at Bangladeshi garment factories, at least nine people were killed an about 50 were injured when flames overran a clothing operation in Gazipur, northwest of the Capital Dhaka.

Investigators will work to determine the cause of the fire, which broke out in the knitting section of Aswad Composite Mills factory, a sister concern of Paul Mall Group.  Firefighters were held back by water shortages and a lack of proper gear in the area, a situation that allowed the fire to escalate.  The only good news is that it happened after regular work hours, meaning that the vast majority of the workforce of 3,000 people had left the building for the day.

Clothing makes up three quarters of Bangladesh’s exports, and working conditions in the garment industry are notoriously bad. 

More than 1,100 people died in April when a factory outside Dhaka collapsed.  Another 2,500 people were injured in the disaster.  That was South Asia’s work industrial disaster since the Bhopal tragedy.

Last November, 112 workers were killed in a fire at another clothes factory in Bangladesh.