A fire has broken out at a garment factory in Bangladesh and a chemical warehouse adjacent to it, killing at least nine people and wounding one, with the death toll expected to rise as rescue efforts continue, officials say.

"Nine bodies have been recovered from the second and third floors of the garment factory," fire service director Tajul Islam Chowdhury said, adding that the number of deaths could rise as recovery operations were continuing.

He said the cause of the blaze was not immediately known.

The fire started on the third floor of the seven-storey factory in Dhaka's Mirpur area before spreading to the chemical warehouse that stored bleaching powder, plastic and hydrogen peroxide, another official of the Fire Service and Civil Defence department said, citing witnesses.

Chowdhu

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