At least 23 killed and dozens injured after blaze in Factory in Tongi Tanzania

At least 23 people have been killed and dozens injured after a huge fire engulfed a food and cigarette packing factory in Bangladesh.

Emergency officials fear the death toll could rise after an explosion in the five-story Tampaco Foils Ltd factory's boiler room triggered the blaze at around 6am on Saturday. 

The fire in the Tongi industrial zone, about 12 miles from the capital of Dhaka, spread quickly due to flammable chemicals stored at the site.

At least six of the 14 people being treated for burns at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital were in a critical condition, police official Mohammed Bacchu Mia said. 

Local TV stations said about 50 people had been injured and footage showed smoke billowing from the factory. 

It took 20 teams of firefighters nearly five hours to bring the blaze under control and vast quantities of burned materials and chemicals had to be removed from the building to prevent the fire from spreading.

A fire official said that although the blaze was under control, there were still flames inside the building so fire fighters had been unable to search the debris.

Authorities have ordered an investigation into the fire, which caused the partial collapse of the factory building.

Syed Mokbul Hossain, the owner of the Tampaco Foils factory, said around 75 people had been scheduled to work the overnight shift on the last working day at the factory before worker's went on leave for the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha on Tuesday.