A Bangladesh garment factory that was gutted in a fire that killed more than 100 workers made clothes for the Dutch chain C&A and the Hong Kong supplier Li & Fung, the owner said on Sunday. "The factory has been making apparel for Li & Fung of Hong Kong and C&A," Delwar Hossain, the owner of the Tazreen Fashion factory told AFP.

"It is a huge loss for my staff and my factory. This is the first time we have ever (had) a fire at one of my seven factories," he said after the blaze on Saturday evening.

He denied that the factory had been unsafe.

Bangladesh has recently emerged as the world's second-largest clothes exporter with overseas garment sales topping $19 billion last year, or 80 percent of total national exports.

The sector is the mainstay of the poverty-stricken country's economy, employing 40 percent of its industrial workforce.