DEADLY FIRE BREAKS OUT AT A SHOPPING MALL IN BANGLADESH, KILLING 45 PEOPLE

Fri 01 March 2024:

At least 45 people have been killed and numerous others injured in a major fire that broke out at a six-story retail mall in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.

Thirteen fire departments battled for two hours to put out the fire that began in a biryani restaurant on the first floor of the Green Cozy Cottage Shopping Mall late on Thursday.

Fires are common in densely populated Dhaka, where many new buildings have sprung up, many without adequate safety measures. Fires and explosions have resulted from faulty gas cylinders, air conditioners and poor electrical wiring.

Doctors said most of the dead suffocated, with others dying as they jumped off the building. Dozens of people are being treated for burn wounds in two state-run hospitals.

Brigadier General Main Uddin, a top fire service official, said that the fire could have originated from a gas leak or stove. “It was a dangerous building with gas cylinders on every floor, even on the staircases,” he told reporters.

Relatives gathered at the hospital early on Friday to receive the bodies of the dead, with some mourning outside the emergency department. Health Minister Samanta Lal Sen told reporters that he expected the death toll to rise.

Insufficient safety precautions

54 people were killed in July 2021 at a food processing factory outside Dhaka, including several children. In February 2019, a centuries-old precinct caught fire, killing at least 70 people.

The clothing sector has been under close examination following a building collapse in 2013 and fire in 2012 that claimed the lives of over 1,200 people.

But in other industries, mainly catering to Bangladesh‘s booming domestic economy and lacking equal emphasis on safety, hundreds of people have died in fires.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed shock and sorrow over the incident, ordering officials to provide swift treatment for the injured.

The government has set up a five-member panel to investigate the incident.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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