Nineteen die in office fire at Dhaka skyscraper

A fire in a high-rise office building in Bangladesh’s capital has killed 19 people and injured about 70 others.

Many people were trapped inside the building, but fire officials said after battling the blaze for several hours that most had been rescued.

Debashishbardhan,afire service and civil defence deputy director, said: “The situation is under control.”

The fire had lost some of its intensity late yesterday, but was not yet fully extinguished. Firefighters were shattering the building’s glass walls to free toxic gas.

The fire at the FR Tower, located on a busy avenue in Dhaka’s Banani commercial district, was the latest in a city where flouted building regulations and safety norms have made deadly blazes common.

A Facebook Live video showed five people climbing down from windows.