At least 43 people have been killed and dozens more injured after a huge fire ripped through a shopping centre in Bangladesh.
The blaze tore through the six-storey building in the capital, Dhaka, late on Thursday, said Samanta Lal Sen, the country’s health minister.
He said at least 33 people, including women and children, were declared dead at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, while at least ten others died after being taken to the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery.
Firefighters said that the fire started in a popular restaurant on the first floor and quickly spread to upper floors, trapping many people.
“We were at the sixth floor when we first saw smoke racing through the staircase. A lot of people rushed upstairs,” said a restaurant manager called Sohel. “We used a water pipe to climb down the building. Some of us were injured as they jumped from upstairs.”
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Firefighters rescued survivors and pulled out bodies, and by early morning, at least 43 people were confirmed dead and at least 22 others were being treated, the minister said. The flames were brought under control in two hours.
Mohammad Altaf, a worker at the mall, recounted narrowly escaping through a broken window. Two of his colleagues died, he said. “When the fire started in the front and broke the glass, our cashier and servicemen got everyone out, but both of them died later. I went to the kitchen, broke a window and jumped to save myself,” Altaf said.
Although the origin of the fire could not be immediately determined, Brigadier General Main Uddin, director of Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence, said it could have been caused by a gas leak or a stove. “It was a dangerous building with gas cylinders on every floor — even on the staircases,” he said.
Fires in factories and residential buildings are common in Bangladesh due to lax enforcement of safety rules.
In July 2021, at least 52 people, including many children, were killed when a fire swept through a food processing factory.
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In February 2019, 70 people died when several blocks of flats in Dhaka became engulfed.
