At least 103 workers have been killed in a blaze that gutted a garment factory on the outskirt of Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka, fire service officials said on Sunday.

On duty official Ziaur Rahman said by phone Sunday morning that 103 workers were killed in the factory fire and all of them died of stampede or jumping from upper floors of the factory.

Rescue workers and police recovered 103 bodies from the textile factory after resuming their search Sunday morning.

The blaze began at the cotton warehouse on the second floor of eight-storied Tajrin garment factory at around 7 pm on Saturday evening before spreading to other floors quickly.

Some of the workers jumped to their death after being trapped on the upper floors by the blaze, said Rahman.

Police suspected the fire originated from electrical short- circuit.

About 1,000 workers were trapped inside the factory and the rest 3,000 escaped after the blaze broke out, he said, adding that rescuers have brought down all the stranded workers from the factory rooftop.

Bangladesh is one of the major garment exporters in the world, employing around 3 million workers and 90 per cent of them are female.

Fire often occurs in garment factory in Bangladesh. In 2007, more than 50 workers were killed after a blaze tore through a garment factory in the southeastern Chittagong city.

Xinhua