Firefighters in Dhaka, Bangladesh, said Friday that security lapses had aggravated the fire that broke out the day before in a restaurant in the capital and spread to a building, killing at least 45 people and injuring dozens. , hospitalized in critical condition.
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The fire broke out on Thursday evening at a popular restaurant located at the bottom of a seven-story building housing other restaurants in Dhaka’s upscale Bailey Road area.
The fire was aggravated by numerous gas cylinders stored in bulk in stairwells and restaurant kitchens, firefighter operations director Rezaul Karim told AFP.
“People heard the explosions of several gas canisters during the fire,” he said.
Questioned by journalists on Friday morning, firefighters speculated that one of the gas cylinders, catching fire, had aggravated the fire.
According to Main Uddin, the head of the national fire service, the building had significant breaches of safety standards.
“It did not have at least two staircases or emergency exits,” he explained to AFP. “Most people died from asphyxiation.”
Police officers were seen inside the destroyed building inspecting the rubble on Friday morning, hours after the government ordered an investigation into the cause of the fire.
Injured in critical condition
Concerning the victims, an injured person succumbed to his injuries in hospital on Friday morning, bringing the death toll to at least 45, police inspector Bacchu Mia told AFP. “The condition of 15 to 16 injured people is critical,” he added.
Dhaka University Hospital and another nearby facility specializing in the treatment of burn victims admitted at least 40 injured people.
“None of them are out of danger,” Health Minister Samanta Lal Sen told AFP earlier after visiting these establishments.
In total, 75 people were rescued, according to a press release from the firefighters, who brought the fire under control in two hours.
The fire broke out at 9:50 p.m. (1550 GMT) on Thursday and quickly spread through the floors, trapping many people.
“We were on the sixth floor when we started seeing smoke coming up the stairs. Many people rushed to go upstairs,” said Sohel, a restaurant manager.
“We used a water pipe to get down. Some of us were injured while jumping,” he said.
Others were stuck on the roof and calling for help. “We bring down all the women and children, including my wife and children. All of us men are on the roof. The firefighters are at our side. We still have fifty people to bring down,” Kamruzzaman Majumdar, an environmental science professor, who was also rescued, wrote on Facebook.
Hundreds of relatives of the victims rushed to Dhaka Medical University Hospital where ambulances transported the dead and injured.
Fires in apartment buildings and industrial complexes are common in Bangladesh due to lax enforcement of safety regulations.
The worst fire the country has experienced occurred in 2012, in the suburbs of Dhaka, in a textile factory where clothing was manufactured for export to Western countries: the fire killed at least 111 workers and left more than 200 injured.
In February 2019, 70 people died when a fire spread across several apartment buildings in Dhaka.
Finally, in July 2021, the fire that devastated a food factory in Rupganj, an industrial town near Dhaka, killed at least 52 workers, including children who worked there.