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No fewer than 16 individuals have perished after a huge fire erupted at a clothing factory in Bangladesh, with emergency services warning that the number of victims could climb.

A total of sixteen bodies have been retrieved but were burned beyond recognition, the firefighters said.

Distraught relatives assembled outside the four-storey factory in the Mirpur district of Dhaka on Tuesday in search of their family members still unaccounted for.

The blaze, which erupted at the factory around midday, was brought under control after multiple hours. But an adjacent chemical warehouse kept burning, emergency services reported.

Up until 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Tuesday, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been completely doused, journalistic accounts indicated.

Emergency responders have not established which of the two buildings caught fire first.

Based on bystanders, the chemical warehouse contained chemical bleaching agents, synthetic polymers and industrial peroxide, all of which can accelerate fires. Synthetic materials also releases toxic fumes when burned.

Police and military officers are still searching for the owners of the factory and the warehouse, fire department chief Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury informed reporters.

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

Crying family members gathered outside the charred buildings, many of them clutching photographs of their lost relatives.

Present at the scene is a man looking frantically for his daughter, Farzana Akhter.

"When I heard about the fire, I rushed here. But I still haven't found her... I just want my daughter back," he stated to news media.

The devastating event has another time emphasized the safety concerns plaguing Bangladesh's clothing sector, which engages millions of workers and is a significant provider of foreign revenue for the country.