At least nine people have been killed in a fire at a clothing factory near the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, emergency officials say.

Local media said about 50 people had been hurt in the fire, which broke out late on Tuesday in Gazipur.

It was feared the number of people killed could rise.

Safety standards in Bangladesh's garment factories are notoriously poor. More than 1,100 people died in April when a factory outside Dhaka collapsed.

Emily Thomas reports on the latest disaster in Bangladesh's garment factories

Another 2,500 people were injured in the disaster in the Ashulia district on the outskirts of the capital, where most of the clothing industry is based.

Last November, 112 workers were killed in a fire at another clothes factory in the area.

The cause of the latest fire was not immediately clear, but reports said it broke out at a knitting section of Aswad Composite Mills.

(Source: BBC)