More 100 people have been rescued from the Banani multi-storey building where a huge blaze has left at least seven people dead and 40 others injured, said the fire service.
“As many as 25 fire-fighting units are at the scene. We have deployed all of our equipments for high-rise building fire. Dhaka North mayor and Fire Service chief are at the scene,” Deputy Director Devashish Bardhan told a media call around 5pm, some four hours after the fire broke out.
A three-strong inquiry committee has been formed, he said before adding details like, number of casualties and the cause of fire can be known after the panel’s report is available.

Bardhan said that the dousing the flame is taking longer due to the flammable materials in the building.

"The decorations inside the buildings are mostly foam and synthetic which created a lot of smoke," he said.

The fire broke out at the 21-storey ‘FR Tower’ around 1pm with several people trapped inside.

Three Air Force helicopters joined the fire service units in their battle against the flames. Army and navy teams also joined the rescue efforts.
A number of garment buying houses and internet service providers have their offices in the high-rise building.
The building 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.