Several people have been killed, several others trapped when a 22-storey building caught fire on Thursday in capital city of Bangladesh, Dhaka.
At the time of this report, at least six people were killed and 60 injured as the fire ripped through the FR Tower in the city’s commercial Banani area.
Photographs showed thick clouds of smoke billowing from the building and emergency crews working to douse the flames. Video footage showed firefighters rescuing people from the building as huge crowds gathered outside, CNN reported.
A trapped person signals to be rescued from the building.
The injured have been taken to hospitals around the city, Dhaka Fire Department spokesperson Shajahan Sikder told CNN.
It was not known how many people are trapped inside the tower, Sikder said.
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Police confirm at least 7 people, including a Sri Lankan man, died in Bangladesh capital Dhaka blaze. Dozens hospitalised with smoke-inhalation. Fire safety, like road or building safety, second thought. Cheap lives fuelling furnace of growth?2
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The Dhaka Fire Department said 21 firetrucks and more than 100 firefighters were at the scene. Lines of ambulances were waiting to take the rescued to hospitals.
“The fire is nearly under control,” Sikder said. “There are some small fires still in some pockets of the building which the firefighters are trying to extinguish, but overall the situation is under control.”
Bangladesh has a history of fatal building fires, especially in factories where safety and structural standards have long been found to be inadequate.
In February, at least 67 people were killed and 40 injured after a fire tore through apartment buildings and chemical warehouses in Dhaka’s Chawkbazar area.
A military spokesman, Abdullah Ibne Zaid, said the body of a Sri Lankan man was brought to the army’s Kurmitola Hospital and another 45 people were being treated there. Another fatality was reported at the Dhaka Medical College hospital.
Helicopters dropped water on the blaze as flames and thick black smoke poured out of the windows.
Scores of firefighters were backed by navy and air force specialists, authorities said.
Al Jazeera’s Tanveer Chaudhry, reporting from Dhaka, said “at least six people have jumped off the building.”
“There are 95 emergency services working and helicopters hovering above … trying to rescue some people from the roof as well.
“The fire took place on the 9th floor of the building but we don’t know under what circumstances.”
Safety standards
Today’s Dhaka fire disaster isn’t the first. Fire disasters regularly hit Bangladesh’s major cities where safety standards are notoriously lax, agency reeports.
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en FR Tower, #Dhaka. #Bangladesh.#DhakaFire #Bananifire #DhakaBananiFire
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A massive blaze in Dhaka’s old quarter on February 21 killed at least 70 people and injured 50 others.
Fire service officials said chemicals illegally stored in an apartment building exploded and set alight five buildings and nearby streets. That blaze took more than 12 hours to control.
A June 2010 fire in the nearby neighbourhood of Nimtoli, one of the most densely populated districts of the capital, killed 123 people.
In November 2012, a fire swept through a nine-story garment factory near Dhaka killing 111 workers. An investigation found it was caused by sabotage and that managers at the plant had prevented victims from escaping.
Authorities are still carrying out a drive to close down illegal chemical stores and warehouses in apartment buildings, launched after last month’s disaster in the old city.
