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They Make Our Clothing

January 29, 2013 | Share

The human face of tragedy.
Photos of young women and girls killed and injured
in the fire at Smart Fashion in Bangladesh
-and those who survived.

Saturday, January 26 was just an ordinary work day at the Smart Fashion Export factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh—until the fire broke out at 2:30 p.m. As heavy black smoke filled the shop floor, workers rushing to escape found locked exit doors. Within an hour, seven young women were dead—crushed to death in the panic or asphyxiated by the toxic smoke. Three of them were teenagers, Kohinoor, 15, Razia, 16, and Nasima, 17 years old. Today, their families mourn, and Bangladesh’s labor and human rights organizations have taken to the streets once again, demanding safety and fundamental rights for Bangladesh’s four million mostly young women garment workers. The Bangladeshi Government is saying that the lives of the dead teenagers are worth $252 each.

Father of teenage girl who died in the fire. His daughter, Kohinoor, was only 15 years old on January 26 when she died at the Smart Fashion factor.

Kohinoor's mother holds a photo of her dead daughter.

Injured child workers of the Smart Fashion factory. Child workers at Smart Fashion garment factory in Dhaka-some as young as 10 to 12 years old-who were injured in the deadly fire on Saturday, January 26, 2013.

Laizu, another victim of factory fire in Bangladesh.

Joshna, one of seven young women who died in the Smart Fashion fire.

Smart Fashion workers met at the office of the National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) on January 27.

On January 28, trade unions, university faculty, political leaders and rights activists staged a protest against the needless deaths in the fire at the Smart Fashion Export factory.