Dhaka, March 13 -- Worker Mohammad Tareque went out of a garment factory in Gazipur's Kaliakair Upazila on Wednesday after hearing a noise.

He saw dozens of intrigued onlookers around a cylinder covered with a wet sack. The cylinder was emitting gas with a hissing sound, attracting the attention of passersby.

All hell broke loose as he took several steps after turning around to return to the factory.

A blaze engulfed the people on the street when someone lit a stove in a nearby house.

The Mouchak Tilerchala neighbourhood of mainly low-income people living in slum-like tin-roofed houses, each with several families, is usually crowded.

The street was also crowded, including with children and women, while some garment factory workers an...