Scores killed in Bangladeshi fire: Dead found trapped in their homes, pedestrians burned as fire spread quickly
foto: CNN
A huge fire has killed at least 70 people in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, as flames spread through a historic, closely-packed district of the city and fire crews struggled to bring it under control.
The blaze started in a single building in the Chawkbazar neighbourhood but very quickly spread to others as gas cylinders used for cooking exploded one after another.
The death toll could yet rise further, with at least 50 more injured victims and of those at least nine critically burned, reports The Guardian.
Mahfuz Riben, a control room official of the Fire Service and Civil Defence in Dhaka, said: “Our teams are working there but many of the recovered bodies are beyond recognition. Our people are using body bags to send them to the hospital morgue, this is a very difficult situation.”
“When I was at the pharmacy I heard a big bang,” Haji Abdul Kader told the AFP news agency.
“I turned back and saw the whole street in flames. Flames were everywhere... I got burned and rushed to hospital.”
The Chawkbazar area is crammed with buildings separated by narrow alleys. The neighborhood is a mix of residential and commercial, with buildings that commonly have shops, restaurants or warehouses on the ground floors.
Many buildings are used both for residential and commercial purposes despite warnings of the potential for high fatalities from fires after one had killed at least 123 people in 2010. Authorities had promised to bring the buildings under regulations and remove chemical warehouses from the residential buildings.