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Agence France-Presse

Associated Press

At least 81 people have died after a devastating fire ripped through residential buildings also used as chemical warehouses in an old area of Bangladesh’s capital, officials and witnesses said on Thursday.
Dozens of people were trapped in the buildings in Dhaka, unable to escape onto narrow streets clogged with traffic, as the highly-combustible stores of chemicals, body sprays and plastic granules erupted in flames.

The fire in the Chawkbazar area was mostly under control after more than 10 hours of firefighting efforts. Some of the about 50 people injured were critically burned.
Bangladesh’s fire service chief Ali Ahmed said the death toll was expected to rise. “The number of bodies may increase. The search is still going on,” he said.


Ahmed said the blaze might have originated from a gas cylinder on Wednesday night before quickly spreading through a building, where chemicals were stored.
The flames raced through four adjoining buildings, which were also used as chemical warehouses.

“There was a traffic jam when the fire broke out. It spread so quickly that people could not escape,” he said.
Mahfuz Riben, a control room official of the Fire Service and Civil Defense in Dhaka, said many of the recovered bodies were charred beyond recognition.
Our people are using body bags to send them to the hospital morgue, this is a very difficult situation
Fire official
“Our teams are working there but many of the recovered bodies are beyond recognition,” he told AP by phone. “Our people are using body bags to send them to the hospital morgue, this is a very difficult situation.”
Witnesses said members of a bridal party in a nearby community centre were also caught in the fire and many of them were injured.

Deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Ibrahim Khan said at least two cars and 10 cycle rickshaws were burned in the fire.
“The victims included passers-by, some people who were eating food at a restaurants and some members of the bridal party,” he said.
Fire sweeps through Bangladesh slum, killing nine
The fire services director, Major AKM Shakil Newaz, said 70 bodies were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Ambulances were arriving carrying bodies, and relatives were mourning in front of the morgue.
Television images showed firefighters climbing ladders to try to spray water on one of the buildings where the fire was largely contained.

Witnesses told local TV stations that many gas cylinders stored in the buildings continued to explode one after another. They said the fire also set off explosions in fuel tanks of some of the vehicles that got stuck in traffic in front of the destroyed buildings.
Haji Abdul Kader, whose shop was destroyed in the fire, said he only survived the blaze as he had left the shop to go to a pharmacy.

“When I was at the pharmacy, I heard a big bang. I turned back and saw the whole street, which was jam packed with cars and rickshaws, in flames. Flames were everywhere,” he said. “I got burned and rushed to hospital.”
Sohag Hossain, one of the injured, told the Daily Star that he and two of his friends, were working at a plastic factory in one of the buildings at the time of the fire.
Bangladesh fire highlights consumer role in worker safety
Suddenly, they heard a huge noise. They tried to flee but could not escape the fire.
The Chawkbazar district in Dhaka dates to the Mughal era 400 years ago. It is crammed with buildings separated by narrow alleys, with residences commonly above shops, restaurants or warehouses on the ground floors.

Fire tragedies are common in Bangladesh, where fires, floods, ferry sinkings and other disasters regularly claim dozens of lives or more.
In 2012, a fire raced through a garment factory on the outskirts of Dhaka, killing at least 112 people trapped behind its locked gates. Less than six months later, another building housing garment factories collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people.

In 2010, an old Dhaka building, which was also used as a chemical warehouse, killed more than 120 people in one of the worst fire tragedies in Dhaka.
After that fire, Dhaka city authorities launched a crackdown on chemical warehouses in residential areas, but in recent years the drive ground to a total halt.
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Devastating fire rips through buildings in Bangladesh’s capital city, killing at least 81 people

Firefighters and local people help douse a fire in Dhaka. Photo: AP

Locals help a Bangladeshi firefighter who lost consciousness briefly while trying to douse flames of a smoldering fire in a building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. The devastating fire raced through buildings in an old part of Bangladesh's capital and killed scores of people. (AP Photo/Zabed Hasnain Chowdhury)

Bangladeshis carry the coffin of a relative who died in a fire, outside a morgue in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. A devastating fire raced through at least five buildings in an old part of Bangladesh's capital and killed scores of people. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu )

locals and firefighters gather around the closely set buildings which caught fire late night in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. A devastating fire raced through at least five buildings in an old part of Bangladesh's capital and killed scores of people. (AP Photo/ Rehman Asad)

Unidentified relatives of victims mourn near the site of a burnt warehouse in Dhaka, Bangladesh, February 21, 2019. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain

In this Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, photo, firefighters try to douse flames of a smoldering fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The devastating fire raced through buildings in an old part of Bangladesh's capital and killed scores of people. (AP Photo/Zabed Hasnain Chowdhury)

epa07384561 Firefighters inspect the aftermath of a fire that broke out in the Chawkbazar area of Old Dhaka, Bangladesh, 21 February 2019. According to the local media reports, the death toll from the fire at a chemical warehouse in Chawkbazar area of Old Dhaka has now risen to 70, and among the injured, 41 were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. EPA-EFE/MONIRUL ALAM

TOPSHOT - Rescue personnel carry the body of a victim after a fire broke out in Dhaka on February 21, 2019. - At least 69 people have died in a huge blaze that tore through apartment buildings also used as chemical warehouses in an old part of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, fire officials said on February 21, 2019. (Photo by Munir UZ ZAMAN / AFP)

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The flames raced through four adjoining buildings, which were also used as chemical warehouses


The flames raced through four adjoining buildings in Bangladesh’s capital, which were also used as chemical warehouses.


Devastating fire rips through buildings in Bangladesh’s capital city, killing at least 81 people

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}The flames raced through four adjoining buildings, which were also used as chemical warehouses

The flames raced through four adjoining buildings, which were also used as chemical warehouses