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A minimum of 16 individuals have lost their lives after a massive fire erupted at a garment factory in Bangladesh, with emergency services warning that the death toll could climb.

Sixteen bodies have been retrieved but were incinerated beyond recognition, the fire service stated.

Grief-stricken relatives gathered outside the four-storey factory in Dhaka's Mirpur area on that day in search of their family members still not found.

The inferno, which erupted at the factory around noon, was extinguished after several hours. But an neighboring chemical warehouse continued to burn, officials reported.

As late as 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) that day, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been entirely put out, journalistic accounts said.

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

Based on bystanders, the chemical warehouse housed chemical bleaching agents, plastic materials and chemical peroxide, all of which can intensify fires. Plastic also emits poisonous gases when ignited.

Law enforcement and armed forces are still searching for the proprietors of the factory and the warehouse, emergency services head Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury informed journalists.

An inquiry on whether the warehouse was running according to regulations is also in progress, he noted.

Tearful family members stood outside the charred buildings, many of them clutching photographs of their missing relatives.

Among them is a man searching desperately for his daughter, his family member.

"When I learned of the fire, I rushed here. But I still have been unable to find her... I just want my loved one back," he told journalists.

The tragic incident has once again highlighted the safety concerns facing Bangladesh's clothing sector, which provides jobs for numerous of workers and is a major provider of foreign revenue for the South Asian economy.