A fire at a six-story shopping centre in the Bangladeshi capital overnight killed at least 43 people and injured dozens of others, with several people escaping to the building's roof, officials said Friday.
The blaze began late on Thursday at a restaurant on the first floor of the Green Cozy Cottage shopping centre in Dhaka.
Fire Service and Civil Defence Director General Main Uddin said more than a dozen firefighting units were deployed to douse the fire.
Firefighters rescued survivors and pulled out bodies, and by Friday morning, 43 people were confirmed dead. Health Minister Samanta Lal Sen said the toll could rise, with at least 18 critically injured people being treated in two state-run hospitals.
A fire department team entered the charred building in the morning to see if there were more bodies, and forensic experts began looking for evidence in the investigation of the fire.
The cause of the fire has not been determined.
Counting the casualties
One survivor said people escaped by heading to the building's roof.
“I knew about the fire when it was at the first floor. We moved to the roof of the building. Around 30 people were there. After the fire was under control, fire service personnel broke into one side of the roof and rescued us,” Mohammed Siam said.
Among the dead, 38 bodies have been identified and 26 returned to their families, said Bacchu Mia, who is in charge of a police outpost at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
“Overnight many families waited here for their loved ones," Mia said. "It’s a heartbreaking scene as they desperately looked for their family members who died in the tragedy.”
