(9 Feb 2014) The two owners of a Bangladesh garment factory who are facing homicide charges for a 2012 fire that killed 112 workers surrendered to a court on Sunday and were denied bail.
Police filed homicide charges on 22 December against 13 people in connection with the fire, including the owners of Tazreen Fashions, Delwar Hossain and his wife, Mahmuda Akter.
Arrest warrants were issued on 31 December for six people who police said had fled, including the two owners.
After Hossain and Akter surrendered on Sunday, a Dhaka court rejected their bail petition and ordered them to be jailed, pending further legal procedures.
If found guilty, the accused face a minimum of seven years and up to life in prison, prosecutors said.
Of the 13 accused, four are still at large.
The factory outside the capital, which produced clothing for big Western retailers, had no emergency exits and its location in a narrow alley prevented firefighters from responding quickly to the deadly blaze in November 2012, prosecutors said.
The investigation found that when the fire broke out, managers and security guards told workers it was part of a regular drill and it was too late for many to escape.
Workers found the gates locked from the outside as the fire engulfed the sprawling building, according to the investigation.
It's the first time Bangladesh has sought to prosecute factory owners in its lucrative garment industry, which is the world's second largest after China.
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