(Dhaka) Anguished and angry families waited Friday in front of the morgue of Bangladesh’s largest hospital waiting for the identification of loved ones dead or injured in a spectacular fire in Dhaka, yet another symbol of failures in the application of safety standards.
At least 46 people died following this disaster which broke out Thursday evening in an upscale district of the capital, in a popular biryani restaurant, located at the foot of a seven-story building housing other restaurants. and which quickly caught fire.
Most of the victims were asphyxiated, some bodies were burned beyond recognition. Among the forty injured hospitalized, two died on Friday from their injuries. More than fifteen are still in critical condition, according to police inspector Bacchu Mia.
Outside the university hospital, Asif Pathan, 30, said his cousin Minhaj Khan was dining at the restaurant with a friend. “His friend escaped by jumping out of the window, but Minhaj couldn’t,” added Mr. Pathan, “his body was charred.” »
But the mother of the young missing student, consumed with worry, does not want to hear this version of the story and refused the DNA sample proposed by doctors to identify the stored bodies.
” I do not believe you. I only want my son! He promised to take me to Mecca for the pilgrimage. How could I go without him? “, she said, refusing to give her name.
It took firefighters two hours to bring the fire under control, which started at 9:50 p.m. Onlookers intervened to lend a hand, carry hoses and help people escaping the building to safety. . A total of 75 people were rescued.
No emergency exit
Before help arrived, many people trapped inside had rushed to the roof.
“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.
PHOTO MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU, ASSOCIATED PRESS
The head of the national fire services, Main Uddin, quickly highlighted the serious breaches of safety rules in this building which “did not have two staircases or emergency exits”.
Kazi Taslim Uddin said his 20-year-old son was among dozens of people injured after being forced down the side of the building.
“He grabbed some cables to get down, but they weren’t long enough. He jumped and got hurt. His lungs were also burned by the smoke,” he said.
According to the director of fire operations, Rezaul Karim, the fire was started accidentally by a poorly stored cooking gas bottle, then aggravated by the chain reaction explosions of other bottles stored in the stairwells. .
The head of the national fire services, Main Uddin, quickly highlighted the serious breaches of safety rules in this building which “did not have two staircases or emergency exits”.
Police officers were seen inside the destroyed building on Friday morning, inspecting the rubble, hours after the government ordered an investigation into the cause of the disaster.
“Time bombs”
Thursday marked the latest in a long list of deadly fires in this predominantly Muslim country, where building safety standards are lax and corruption often allows them to be ignored.
However, these tragedies are more common in industrial complexes and apartment buildings, and this fire in one of the most affluent neighborhoods of Dhaka deeply shocked many residents.
Among the bereaved families, some expressed their anger at the lack of warning of the fire risks in this restaurant.
“All these buildings are ticking time bombs! The regulators only wake up after the disaster,” lamented a man who was waiting to collect the body of a cousin and who wished to remain anonymous.
The worst fire the country has experienced occurred in 2012, in the suburbs of Dhaka, in a textile factory: at least 111 workers were killed and more than 200 people were 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.