An eight-storey block housing garment factories and a shopping centre collapsed on the outskirts of the Bangladeshi capital on Wednesday, killing at least 25 people and injuring more than 500, the Ntv television news channel reported.

Fire fighters and army personnel were working at the Rana Plaza building in Savar, 30 km (19 miles) outside Dhaka, to rescue people who were trapped inside, Mohammad Asaduzzaman, officer in charge of the area's police station told Reuters.

He said factory owners appeared to have ignored a warning not to allow workers into the building after a crack was detected in the block the previous day.

Bangladesh's booming garment industry has been plagued by fires and other accidents for years. In November last year, 112 workers were killed in a blaze at a factory in an industrial suburb of Dhaka.