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A minimum of 16 individuals have died after a enormous fire erupted at a apparel factory in Bangladesh, with emergency services cautioning that the death toll could climb.

16 bodies have been retrieved but were burned impossible to identify, the firefighters stated.

Heartbroken relatives assembled outside the four-storey factory in Dhaka's Mirpur area on Tuesday in seeking their dear ones still unaccounted for.

The inferno, which erupted at the factory around noon, was put out after multiple hours. But an neighboring chemical warehouse continued to burn, authorities reported.

Up until 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Tuesday, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been completely doused, media reports reported.

Emergency responders have not established which of the two buildings was the origin point.

Based on eyewitnesses, the chemical warehouse stored bleaching powder, plastic and industrial peroxide, all of which can accelerate fires. Polymer products also emits toxic fumes when combusted.

Law enforcement and armed forces are still searching for the owners of the factory and the warehouse, fire department chief the fire service official informed journalists.

An inquiry on whether the warehouse was functioning with proper authorization is also ongoing, he noted.

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

Present at the scene is a man looking frantically for his daughter, Farzana Akhter.

"When I heard about the fire, I rushed here. But I still cannot locate her... I just want my loved one back," he stated to news media.

The devastating event has another time emphasized the hazardous conditions affecting Bangladesh's clothing sector, which engages numerous of workers and is a crucial source of economic income for the country.