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A minimum of 16 persons have died after a huge fire broke out at a garment factory in Bangladesh, with authorities cautioning that the death toll could rise.

A total of sixteen bodies have been retrieved but were incinerated impossible to identify, the firefighters stated.

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

The blaze, which erupted at the factory around lunchtime, was put out after multiple hours. But an neighboring chemical warehouse kept burning, emergency services reported.

Up until 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) that day, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been fully extinguished, journalistic accounts indicated.

Fire service officials have not established which of the two buildings ignited initially.

Based on bystanders, the chemical warehouse contained bleaching powder, synthetic polymers and hydrogen peroxide, all of which can intensify fires. Polymer products also produces hazardous smoke when burned.

Law enforcement and armed forces are still trying to locate the operators of the factory and the warehouse, fire service director the fire service official briefed reporters.

An probe on whether the warehouse was running according to regulations is also ongoing, he mentioned.

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

Present at the scene is a man searching desperately for his daughter, Farzana Akhter.

"When I heard about the fire, I hurried to the scene. But I still haven't found her... I just want my child back," he expressed to journalists.

The tragic incident has yet again emphasized the hazardous conditions facing Bangladesh's apparel manufacturing, which engages numerous of workers and is a crucial source of export earnings for the South Asian economy.