Dhaka , Bangladesh ( CNN ) At least 13 people are dead and many workers still missing Saturday evening after a fire broke out inside a factory in Dhaka , Bangladesh -- the latest such deadly blaze in the south Asian nation . Mohammad Salimuzzaman , the officer in charge of the police station in the area of the nation 's capital were the fire occurred , said authorities had sent at least 13 bodies to a hospital morgue . Many of the bodies were disfigured and charred beyond recognition . A short time earlier , Dhaka police chief Asaduzzaman Mia told reporters about the efforts to find others who were in the five-story building . `` The rescuers were still searching for bodies in the debris , '' Mia said . Such factories -- making products for a number of Western retailers -- play a big part in Bangladesh 's economy , with ready-made garments alone making up 80 % of the country 's $ 24 billion in annual exports . The factory that burned Saturday was used to make plastic goods . These buildings have n't always proven to be the safest places to work . There are many examples in recent years of fatal factory fires in Bangladesh , the most glaring being the spring 2013 collapse of a nine-story building that housed five garment factories . More than 1,100 people died in that blaze . Saturday 's fire started on the plastic factor 's ground floor and immediately and quickly spread , fueled by flammable chemicals in the building , firefighters said . Authorities did n't say how many people were in the building when this happened , and thus how many remained unaccounted for . Yet some of those escaped -- and there were many -- estimated about 80 or 90 others worked there . Afterward , the scene filled with not only firefighters but several thousand onlookers , some of them trying to track down their still-missing relatives . Firefighters did n't specify exactly what caused the blaze , though they suspected a busted gas cylinder may be to blame . Past factory fires have led to emotional rhetoric from officials , calls for action and , in some cases , criminal charges . Thirteen people were found guilty of gross negligence of safety measures and charged with `` culpable homicide '' after a November 2012 apparel factory fire on Dhaka 's outskirts that killed at least 117 people and spurred others to jump from the building to escape the flames . Most of those dead in that blaze were women , almost half of them burned so bad that DNA tests were needed to identify them . The building collapse months later in Dhaka was even more appalling and exponentially more deadly . That blaze spurred widespread criticism about the state of workers rights in Bangladesh . The government responded by revampling laws so that workers no longer need approval from employers to form trade unions , and every factory that sells within the country also has to pledge 5 % of their profits toward a workers ' welfare fund . The government also boosted minimum wages from $ 38 to around $ 68 per month . Journalist Farid Ahmed reported from Bangladesh , and CNN 's Greg Botelho wrote this story from Atlanta .
A fire breaks out at a plastics factory in Bangladesh 's capital . Hide Caption 8 of 11 Bangladesh has seen many deadly factory fires before .