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No fewer than 16 persons have lost their lives after a huge fire started at a clothing factory in Bangladesh, with officials cautioning that the number of victims could increase.

A total of sixteen bodies have been retrieved but were burned beyond recognition, the fire department reported.

Distraught relatives assembled outside the four-storey factory in the Mirpur district of Dhaka on Tuesday in looking for their loved ones still unaccounted for.

The inferno, which broke out at the factory around lunchtime, was put out after several hours. But an adjacent chemical warehouse kept burning, emergency services said.

As late as 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) yesterday, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been completely doused, news sources indicated.

Fire department authorities have not established which of the two buildings caught fire first.

According to eyewitnesses, the chemical warehouse stored bleaching powder, synthetic polymers and industrial peroxide, all of which can intensify fires. Polymer products also emits hazardous smoke when combusted.

Law enforcement and armed forces are still attempting to find the proprietors of the factory and the warehouse, emergency services head Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury informed reporters.

An investigation on whether the warehouse was running according to regulations is also in progress, he mentioned.

Weeping family members stood outside the charred buildings, many of them grasping photographs of their unaccounted for relatives.

Included in the crowd is a man searching desperately for his daughter, his loved one.

"When I was informed of the fire, I hurried to the scene. But I still have been unable to find her... I just want my loved one back," he expressed to journalists.

The catastrophic occurrence has another time emphasized the safety concerns plaguing Bangladesh's garment industry, which provides jobs for millions of workers and is a major contributor to economic income for the South Asian economy.