Garment factory fire kills at least 12 in Bangladesh

At least 12 people were killed and more than 100 others injured -- most of them critically -- in a fire at a garment factory in Bangladesh Tuesday, the country's national news agency reported.

The fire started just after 1 p.m. on the 10th floor of a 12-story building in an industrial area just outside the capital city, Dhaka, the report said. Investigators suspect an electric short-circuit sparked the blaze.

"Witnesses said a number of people were wounded as they were stampeded or leapt from the building ..." the news agency said, "while people at the bottom of the building tried to save them, spreading blankets or holding fishing nets."

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina "expressed deep shock and sorrows at the loss of lives and properties," the Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha news agency said. The prime minister delivered a "message of condolence" and "prayed for the eternal peace of the departed souls," the news agency said.

President Zillur Rahman also "expressed his deep shock and sorrow at the loss of lives and assets," the news agency said.