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No fewer than 16 persons have lost their lives after a massive fire started at a apparel factory in Bangladesh, with emergency services warning that the fatality count could climb.

Sixteen bodies have been retrieved but were charred impossible to identify, the fire department reported.

Heartbroken relatives converged outside the multi-story factory in the Mirpur district of Dhaka on Tuesday in seeking their family members still missing.

The fire, which broke out at the factory around lunchtime, was brought under control after three hours. But an adjacent chemical warehouse continued to burn, emergency services confirmed.

Until 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) that day, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been completely doused, news sources indicated.

Fire service officials have not established which of the two buildings was the origin point.

Per eyewitnesses, the chemical warehouse stored industrial bleaches, synthetic polymers and chemical peroxide, all of which can worsen fires. Synthetic materials also emits toxic fumes when combusted.

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 informed the media.

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

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

Among them is a man looking frantically for his daughter, his loved one.

"When I was informed of the fire, I hurried to the scene. But I still haven't found her... I just want my loved one back," he stated to journalists.

The devastating event has another time underscored the security issues facing Bangladesh's garment industry, which employs millions of workers and is a significant source of export earnings for the South Asian economy.