Dhaka: A massive fire broke out early Saturday on the ground floor of a 12-storey mixed-use building in a market in Bangladesh’s capital city, officials said.
However, no casualties were reported in the blaze at Jabal E Nur Tower in the Babu Bazar area of Keraniganj, and fire service officials rescued at least 42 people from the building, the state-run BSS news agency reported.
The incident marks the second major fire in a multi-storey building in Dhaka in two months. October 14, a massive blaze ripped through a chemical warehouse and an adjacent garments factory in the capital, killing at least 16 people.
According to news portal tbsnews.net, the Fire Service and Civil Defence received information about the blaze at 5:37 am local time and firefighting units reached the scene at around 5:45 am.
Fire service media officer Anwarul Islam said 18 firefighting units were deployed to bring the blaze under control.
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel were also deployed at the site to assist in maintaining law and order, controlling crowds and ensuring the smooth movement of emergency responders, BGB public relations officer Shariful Islam said.
Senior Staff Officer (Media Cell) of the Fire Service, Md Shahjahan Shikdar, said the fire-hit structure consists of several separate buildings sharing a single basement.
The ground and first floors house a market with garment product shops and small scrap warehouses, while the upper floors contain residential apartments. The basement has only two entry points, he said.
Firefighters were forced to cut open the locks and shutters of most shops to douse the flames, which slowed down the operation.
The cause of the fire could not be determined immediately.
Locals and business owners said scrap clothes stored in the basement may have fuelled the blaze, but officials said the origin of the fire was yet to be ascertained, The Daily Star newspaper reported.
Bangladesh has a history of industrial disasters. Past industrial tragedies have often been attributed to safety lapses.
In 2021, a fire engulfed a food and drink factory in Bangladesh, killing at least 52 people.
In February 2019, a blaze ripped through a 400-year-old area cramped with apartments, shops and warehouses in the oldest part of Dhaka and killed at least 67 people.
In 2012, about 117 workers died when they were trapped behind locked exits in a garment factory in Dhaka.
Bangladesh’s worst industrial disaster occurred the following year, when the Rana Plaza garment factory outside Dhaka collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people.
Another fire in Old Dhaka in a house illegally storing chemicals killed at least 123 people in 2010.
