At least seven people have died and 40 have been injured in the huge blaze that hit a multi-storey building in Dhaka’s Banani on Thursday (Mar 28), said police.
One of the dead has been identified as Sri Lankan national named Nirash Chandra, who died at the Kurmitola General Hospital.
Banani police station’s Inspector Yaseen said that the six others have been identified as Parvez Sazzad, 47, Mamun, 36, Amina Yasmeen, 40, Abdullah Al Faruk, 32, Monir, 50, and Maqsudur, 36.
Mamun, who was a staffer at the Regent Airways office in Banani high-rise building died at the United Hospital while Amina Yasmeen died at the Apollo Hospital.
Three people were taken to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) with severe burn injuries, where Abdullah Al Faruk was declared dead upon arrival.
DMCH burns unit Resident Doctor Partha Shankar Paul said that the two others being treated by them have been identified as 37-year-old Rezaul Ahmed, who is in critical condition, and 35-year-old Abu Hossain.
The fire broke out at the 21-storey ‘FR Tower’ around 1pm with dozens of people trapped inside.
As many as 22 firefighting units are at the scene battling the flames and rescuing people, Fire Service and Civil Defence Control Room Officer Enyaetullah told Bangla Tribune.
The firefighters were later joined by members of the army, navy and air force.
People were seen shouting for help from windows and several jumped out of the burning building.
Several people trapped inside the buildings took shelter on the roof and were trying to escape into the adjacent buildings.
Many of them tried to escape through the rooftops or to get down by climbing down cables.
Helicopters dropped water on the burning building from above while hundreds of panicked relatives and friends gathered outside the building.
Around 4:45pm, firefighters entered the building and went up to the sixth floor, helping douse the fire and evacuating people trapped inside.
Belayet Hossain, a properties office employee on the 14th floor of the building said in a TV interview that he tried to get down once he received news of the fire but couldn’t as the staircase was engulfed in smoke by then.
“I then went to the roof and crossed to the adjacent 'Awal Centre' building and then got down,” he said.
He added that he was able to do this as he was former air force officer but there were three others on the roof who couldn’t cross over to the adjacent buildings.
Akram Hossain, a rescuer told Bangla Tribune that a woman slipped and fell when she was trying to escape from the eighth floor.
“Two more men fell after that. I rescued the three of them myself. The woman’s body is completely covered in shards of glass,” Hossain said.
A number of garment buying houses and internet service providers have their offices in the 22-floor building.
It also houses the offices of different business firms, sales centres, restaurants and a convention centre. An estimate of the number of workers at these institutions has yet to emerge.
Shahjalal Islami Bank runs a branch on the building’s third floor. The office of the privately run Queens University is on the adjacent Awal Centre building.
The fire service has yet to identify the cause of the fire.