/ 4 June 2010

Bangladesh fire death toll over 100

More than 100 people were killed in a fire that razed a crowded Dhaka neighbourhood overnight, and rescue workers scrambled on Friday to pull bodies out of the smouldering debris of what is being called the worst blaze to sweep through the Bangladeshi capital in almost four decades.

Fuelling the flames, which some witnesses said rose up to six-storeys high, were chemicals from illegal, home-based factories in the centuries-old Kayettuli neighbourhood, one of the most densely populated in Dhaka and in the heart of the city.

“It seemed like hell broke loose,” said a wailing woman, looking for her daughter and son in what remained of the area, home to several multi-storey blocks and tin-roofed dwellings, some of which were turned into chemical factories despite a law banning their presence in residential areas.

“Burning chemicals from stores within or beside the living quarters spewed on the streets like lava from a volcano. There was hardly any safe place to step out,” added one survivor.

A fire brigade official said 91 bodies had been recovered from the area so far and the country’s police chief, Nur Mohammad, said it was difficult to give an exact casualty toll until search and rescue operations were finish, likely on Friday afternoon.

The blaze, believed to have been caused by an explosion at a electrical transformer, was the worst to sweep through the capital since 1971, the fire brigade said.

“I was on the scene through last night, and can guess the number of dead could be around 100. But we have to wait to know the final casualty figures,” police chief Mohammed told Reuters.

TV channels put the death toll at between 107 and 150, including a dozen people who died in hospital from injuries sustained in the blaze.

Nearly 150 people, many suffering from serious burns, had been admitted for treatment, the TV channels reported.

“I never have had such a harrowing experience in my 40 years here,” said a doctor at the burns unit of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, as patients crammed the corridors and sobbing relatives searched for their loved ones.

Hospitals, strained by the high casualty toll, began handing back corpses to those relatives able to identify them. “Some of the bodies lying in the morgue are charred beyond identification,” one police officer said.

Firefighters said narrow streets and the density of the buildings hampered their access, and the chemicals in the area helped the fire spread quickly.

Government minister Jahangir Kabir Nanak said the lack of proper fire escapes in many buildings was also to blame for the high number of deaths. “We should have better planned homes and wider roads to save lives,” he said.

The government declared Saturday as a day of mourning and said it would pay 20 000 taka ($290) towards the cost of burying the dead. “I have no words to console them,” said Home Minister Sahara Khatun while visiting the hospital late on Thursday.

The fire started at about 10.30pm (4.30pm GMT) on Thursday. Some families lost up to eight members, witnesses said, and many residents were also trapped inside the buildings as they rushed to get out.

“Flames leapt up to the sixth floor of buildings. It was a huge inferno,” said a Reuters witness.

The government has ordered an investigation to find the exact cause of the fire. – Reuters