BANGLA-LD FIRE 2 LST

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed her deep shock
at the deaths and prayed for the early recovery of injured as
Bangladesh declared a countrywide mourning on Saturday.
Hasina announced that the government would bear the
cost of the treatment of the injured people as she visited the
state-run hospital to see the victims.
"The government will bear the cost of their
treatment," the spokesman of the Prime Minister's Office said.
He added that the government would take required steps
for the rehabilitation of the people affected by Thursday
night's devastating fire.
The spokesman said the Prime Minister has asked the
countrymen to join special prayers for the fire victims at all
mosques after the Friday prayers and at places of worship of
faiths.
Hasina also cancelled all her scheduled programmes for
the day in view of the tragedy.
She ordered mobilisation of maximum strengths of the
concerned government agencies for the salvage campaign as Home
Minister Sahara Khatun, Health Minister AFM Ruhal Haque,
Dhaka's mayor Sadek Hossain, and several government leaders
were overseeing the rescue operations and the treatment
arrangements at the hospitals.
Army medical teams were also deployed to treat the
injured.
Witnesses said the fire wiped out entire families and
in many cases left lone survivors.
A nurse at the entrance of the DMCH morgue was seen
weeping in front of the body of a six-year old boy saying.
Some survivors said many people were burnt alive as
they tried to rescue their family members from the inferno.
The reports said most of the injured were rushed to
the DMCH hospital in ambulances, rickshaws and vans.
Others were rushed to nearby Salimullah Medical
College Hospital which hurriedly set up a makeshift burn unit
to treat the injured.
Fire service chief Brigadier General Abu Nayeem
Mohammed Shahidullah told newsmen after midnight that the fire
was now under control but rescue operations continued as more
bodies and injured people could be trapped inside the wrecks.
Main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)
chief and ex-premier Khaleda Zia also visited the scene.
The home ministry has formed a three-member committee,
headed by the additional secretary, which includes
representatives from the police and fire department. The
committee has been asked to submit its report in seven days.
The disaster came hours after rescuers called off
their salvage campaign in the building collapse incident on
Tuesday that killed 25 people. PTI AR
MRD


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