43 people died due to fire in the building, created chaos
Dhaka: 43 people died in a fire that broke out in a six-storey commercial building on Dhaka’s Bailey Road late Thursday night. Health Minister Samant Lal Sen said 33 of the dead died at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital and 10 at the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery. He said that more than 22 seriously burnt people are battling for life and death. About 75 people were rescued from the Green Cozy Cottage shopping mall, of which 42 were unconscious. The fire service says Green Cozy Cottage houses a Kachchi Bhai Biryani shop, an outlet of retailer Ilien and several other shops.
Live video shared by people on Facebook shows the building on fire and a large number of people gathered outside. In some videos, local people and firefighters were seen rescuing people trapped inside the building. The fire broke out around 9:50 pm. It was brought under control after two hours. Mohammad Rasheed, a rescue personnel of the fire service, came out from behind the building with air jumping bags along with five other personnel. “At first we only saw smoke. When I went to the ground floor of the building to take a look, I heard the sound of a gas cylinder exploding and the fire spread,” said a security guard from an adjacent building.
He said, “The fire spread so fast that the fire service had to work hard to save people. Some people came down from the building by holding ropes. Many people got injured during this.” Around 10-15 people have been taken to Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery. Paramilitary forces, three platoons of Bangladesh Ansar and one of the specially trained Ansar Guard battalions have been deployed to help in extinguishing the fire and rescue operations along with the fire service. Santo Das, who was rescued from the building at around 11:40 pm, told IANS that the fire may have been caused by a cylinder explosion. He works in a restaurant on the third floor of the building. Fire service officials said at least 19 people have been rescued so far.
