Late night fire kills 109 in Bangladesh capital

Anisur Rahman
Dhaka, Jun 4 (PTI) At least 109 people were burnt
alive and 50 others were critically injured as a deadly fire
engulfed a cluster of multi-storey buildings in densely
populated old Dhaka late Thursday night.
"We have so far counted 109 burnt bodies at the
morgue," an official of the state-run Dhaka Medical College
Hospital (DMCH) told reporters as most of the dead and injured
were rushed there.
At least 50 others were struggling for life at the
state-run Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) with critical
burn injuries.
The chief doctor of the burn unit of the facility
Samanta Lal Sen, however, said the total count could not yet
be done as several other injured were taken to other
facilities.
He said 41 people were still being treated at the
hospital's unit alone, mostly with "very critical burn
injuries".
The private ATN Bangla and other TV channels covering
the disaster said the fire brigade rescuers halted their drive
this morning after a night-long search for bodies and people
trapped inside the wrecks.
But local residents said more bodies could still be
trapped inside the several multi-storey buildings and shanties
at Kayetuli area of the crowded old Dhaka.
"It appears the hell has come down here... we see the
rescuers are retrieving burnt bodies one after another from
the ruptured structures using search lights for want of
electricity," a journalist at the spot said.
The blaze was apparently sparked by an explosion of an
electric transformer at around 10 pm Thursday night and the
fire quickly engulfed a small plastic factory and four other
multi-storey buildings and adjacent shops sending the flames
some 300 feet height in the sky, a fire brigade official said.
"In my 40 years of career, I never saw such a disaster
... so many people came simultaneously with burn injuries,"
head of DMCH's burn unit said, as many people rushed from one
ward to another looking for their relatives and friends.
Television footage showed hundreds of people awaiting
news on their loved ones and many wailing at the wreck.
The footages showed people, including women and
children, running around looking for relatives.(MORE) PTI AR
MRD



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