The death toll from a sweeping factory fire rose to 61 in the main Bangladesh port of Chittagong Friday as eight more charred bodies were found in the rubble, according to Deutsche Presse Agentur (dpa). The army was called out to help civilian fire fighters and Red Cross volunteers control the leaping flames that had gutted a garment factory and left a further 70 workers injured, some critically. Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, who arrived in order personally to console victims, called the blaze a national tragedy and ordered an inquiry into how the fire began and what ensued. Survivors said about 500 workers, mostly women, were trapped inside in the three-storey sweatshop behind locked doors amid the inferno.
