(9 May 2013) +++CLIENTS PLEASE NOTE THIS STORY CONTAINS IMAGES OF DEAD BODIES+++
A fire in a garment factory in Bangladesh has killed eight people, including a top official in the country's powerful clothing manufacturers' trade group.
News of the fire came as the death toll from the collapse of another garment building passed 900 on Thursday.
The fire on Wednesday night raced through the lower floors of the 11-storey building in the capital Dhaka, housing the Tung Hai Sweater Ltd. Factory - which had closed for the day - as well as apartments, according to a fire official.
Fire officials said the cause of the blaze was not yet known.
One factory employee suggested the fire had been caused by an electrical short circuit.
The fire burned parts of the first and second floors, which housed the factory, and parts of the third, which housed apartments.
By early Thursday, firefighters had confirmed the deaths of eight people, officials said.
All the dead had been found in a stairwell, apparently trying to flee the building.
The dead included the factory's managing director, Mahbubur Rahman, who was also a top official with the powerful Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
A police official was also among the dead, according to fire officials.
It took more than three hours for firefighters to control the blaze, which began soon after the factory's roughly 300 workers had gone home for the day, officials said.
The country's powerful garment industry has been plagued by a series of disasters in recent months, including a November fire at the Tazreen factory that killed 112.
However, last month's collapse of the eight-storey Rana Plaza building, which housed five garment factories, stands out as the worst tragedy in the history of the global garment manufacturing industry.
More than two weeks after the collapse, workers with cranes and other heavy equipment were still pulling apart the rubble and finding more bodies.
On Thursday, authorities said the death toll had risen to 912, while it was unclear how many more people remained missing.
More than 2,500 people were rescued alive after the April 24 collapse.
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