At least 43 dead in Bangladesh building fire

Image source, AFP

Image caption, Dozens of people were trapped in the multi-storey building after the fire broke out

At least 43 people have been killed after a fire broke out in a multi-storey building in Bangladesh, the country’s health minister says.

According to local media, the blaze began in a restaurant at around 22:00 local time (16:00 GMT) on Thursday in the capital, Dhaka.

It spread quickly through the building, trapping dozens of people.

The fire was later bought under control, according to fire officials, and the cause is being investigated.

Bangladesh’s Health Minister, Samanta Lal Sen, said that at least 33 people, including women and children, were declared dead at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

At least 10 others died at the city’s main burns hospital. Dozens more people have been sent there for treatment, Mr Sen said.

The emergency services were called to the Kacchi Bhai restaurant, which according to the Daily Bangladesh newspaper, is in a building that has seven floors.

The complex that the building is in also contains other restaurants, as well as several clothing and mobile phone shops.

“We were at the sixth floor when we first saw smoke racing through the staircase,” said a restaurant manager called Sohel, according to AFP.

“A lot of people rushed upstairs. We used a water pipe to climb down the building.

“Some of us were injured as they jumped from upstairs.”

Another survivor, Mohammad Altaf, told Reuters that he narrowly escaped the blaze through a broken window.

He said two of his colleagues, who had helped to get people out, both later died.

Fires in commercial and residential buildings are common in Bangladesh. They are often blamed on poor safety awareness and an inadequate enforcement of regulations.