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No fewer than 16 people have died after a massive fire broke out at a garment factory in Bangladesh, with emergency services cautioning that the fatality count could climb.

Sixteen bodies have been found but were charred unrecognizable, the fire department said.

Heartbroken relatives converged outside the four-storey factory in Mirpur, Dhaka on Tuesday in search of their loved ones still unaccounted for.

The blaze, which broke out at the factory around midday, was put out after several hours. But an adjacent chemical warehouse kept burning, officials 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 department authorities have not determined which of the two buildings was the origin point.

According to witnesses, the chemical warehouse contained bleaching powder, plastic materials and hydrogen peroxide, all of which can worsen fires. Polymer products also emits hazardous smoke when combusted.

Law enforcement and armed forces are still searching for the proprietors of the factory and the warehouse, fire service director the department director told reporters.

An inquiry on whether the warehouse was running according to regulations is also currently underway, he mentioned.

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

Included in the crowd is a man seeking urgently for his daughter, his loved one.

"When I learned of the fire, I hurried to the scene. But I still cannot locate her... I just want my daughter back," he stated to news media.

The catastrophic occurrence has yet again highlighted the safety concerns plaguing Bangladesh's apparel manufacturing, which provides jobs for countless of workers and is a major source of export earnings for the South Asian economy.