Bangladesh mall fire kills at least 46
DHAKA — A massive fire in Bangladesh that raced through a six-story mall home to restaurants where many families with children were dining has killed at least 46 people and injured dozens, the health minister said on Friday.
Fire authorities said a gas leak or a stove could have caused Thursday’s blaze in the capital, which spread quickly after breaking out in a biryani restaurant, and was only reined in following two hours of effort by 13 units of firefighters.
Hospitals are treating 22 people with burn wounds, Health Minister Samanta Lal Sen told reporters.
“All 22 people ... are in critical condition,” Sen said after a visit to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed shock and sorrow over the incident, ordering officials to provide swift treatment for the injured.
Mohammad Altaf recounted his narrow escape from the blaze that killed two colleagues.
“I went to the kitchen, broke a window and jumped to save myself,” he told reporters, adding that a cashier and server who urged people to leave during the first moments had died later.
Another survivor, Mohammed Siam, said people escaped by heading to the building’s roof.
“I knew about the fire when it was at the first floor. We moved to the roof of the building. Around 30 people were there,” he said. “After the fire was under control, fire service personnel broke into one side of the roof and rescued us.”
Firefighters used cranes to rescue people from the charred building, said fire officials, who were still working to clear debris and stamp out any remaining embers.
Suffocation
Relatives gathered at the hospital early on Friday to receive the bodies of the dead, with some mourning outside the emergency department.
Doctors said most of the dead were killed by suffocation with others dying as they jumped off the building, which also houses some clothing and mobile phone shops.
“It was a dangerous building with gas cylinders on every floor, even on the stairs,” Brigadier General Main Uddin told Reuters, adding that it had a single staircase, lacking an emergency exit and other safety measures.
The government has set up a panel to investigate the incident.
Intense scrutiny of Bangladesh and the major global clothing retailers that manufacture there has helped prevent disasters in the garment sector since a fire in 2012 and a building collapse in 2013 together killed more than 1,200 workers.
But in other industries, mainly catering to the booming domestic economy and lacking equal emphasis on safety, hundreds of people have died in fires.
Fires are common in densely populated Dhaka, where many new buildings have sprung up, many lacking adequate safety measures. Fires and explosions have resulted from faulty gas cylinders, air conditioners and poor electrical wiring.
In July 2021, many children were among 54 people killed at a food processing factory outside Dhaka.