AN avoidable tragedy in Bangladesh on Friday claimed at least 52 lives when a massive inferno tore through a factory just outside Dhaka. Reports suggested that highly flammable chemicals and plastics were stockpiled inside, facilitating the fire in spreading quickly. Trapped workers could not go up to the rooftop, from where they could have been more easily rescued, because the exit doors had been padlocked. Nor could they go downstairs because the lower floors were engulfed in flames. The disaster is bound to revive memories of Dhaka’s Rana Plaza disaster in 2013. Around 1,000 people working in a garment factory inside the multistorey building died when the structure collapsed. The huge death toll, which amounted to the worst accident in the garment industry’s history, led to a public outcry and demands for improvement in workplace safety. Given that several global chains sourced their products from the factory, the campaign was particularly successful in effecting a number of major legislative actions to raise safety standards. There have been concerns expressed of late, however, that Bangladesh is slipping back into its old ways and Friday’s blaze may be evidence of that.