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70 Killed, Scores Injured In Bangladeshi Fire

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At least 70 people have been killed while several others have been left injured after an inferno tore through crumbling apartment blocks in a historic part of Dhaka, Bangladeshi capital.

Naija News reports that the inferno that killed the 70 people started in one building where chemicals for deodorants and other household uses were illegally stored. The inferno then spread at lightning speed to four nearby buildings, the fire service said.

Bangladesh fire chief, Ali Ahmed said at least 70 people were killed but that the toll would likely rise.

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“The number of bodies may increase. The search is still going on,” he said.

While confirming the incident, the doctors who attended to the injured victims who were rushed to the hospital, said at least 10 of the scores of injured were in critical condition.

Firefighters who took almost 12 hours to put out the fire, said the inferno went through the blackened floors of the building, littered with spray cans, looking for bodies.

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The fire was said to have started at about 10.40pm (1640 GMT) on Wednesday, February 20 at Chawkbazar in the old Mughal part of the capital.

Ahmed attributed the cause of the fire to a gas cylinder that caught fire and quickly spread through the building where chemicals were stored in rooms alongside the apartments.

“There was a traffic jam when the fire broke out. It spread so quickly that people could not escape,” the fire chief said.

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“It will take time. This is not like any other fire,” he said, adding that the inferno had been made more devastating by the “highly combustible” Ahmed said.