At least 44 people have been killed and more than 20 people have been severely injured by a fire that engulfed a commercial building that housed several restaurants in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, the Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported on Friday, citing Police Inspector General Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun.
The inspector general told a briefing on Friday that 44 people have died and 75 have been rescued from the fire, with some of the rescued people having received first aid treatment before returning home safely. Of the 75 people rescued, firefighters have carried 42 people out of the building in an unconscious state, the report said.
The fire broke out at the Kacchi Bhai restaurant on the first floor of the building around 9:45 p.m. local time (15:45 GMT) on Thursday and then spread to other floors. It took about 2 hours for 13 units of the country’s fire service, assisted by police and border guards, to put out the fire, the report said.
The report cited firefighters as saying that most of the people have died as a result of jumping off the seven-story building or from burns and suffocation. UNI/SPUTNIK AKS
