Bangladesh court freezes assets of owner of collapsed plant

A Bangladesh court on Monday ordered banks to freeze the assets of the owner of a factory hit by a deadly blaze, as firefighters pulled three more bodies from the rubble to take the toll to 39.

The High Court made the order after rights organisations filed a writ alleging basic safety measures had not been taken and demanding compensation for workers and bereaved relatives.

Around 100 people were working at Tampaco Foils Limited factory on September 9 when a fire caused by an explosion in the boiler room tore through the four-storey building.

Around 100 people were working at Tampaco Foils Limited factory on September 9 when a fire caused by an explosion in the boiler room tore through the building ©Rajib Dhar (AFP/File)

It was Bangladesh's worst such disaster since the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment complex in 2013 that killed more than 1,100 people.

"The court asked that the Tampaco owner's accounts be frozen for three months," said Mahbuba Akhter, spokeswoman for one of the rights groups, Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust.

Relatives of the victims have already filed a private murder case against the owner, who remains at large, and the government has launched an investigation into what caused the fire.

The deputy district police commissioner S.M. Alam said most of the workers listed as missing had now been accounted for.

"I think we are almost near to an end of the operation and soon we will call it off," he told AFP.

The blaze was the latest in a series of deadly accidents to hit impoverished Bangladesh, whose $27-billion garment industry is the world's second largest behind China's.

The Rana Plaza collapse triggered international outrage, forcing US and European clothing brands to improve deplorable safety conditions at the factories that supply them.