81 Dead, 50 Injured, Burned, in Bangladesh Blaze

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A devastating fire raced through densely packed buildings in a centuries-old district in Bangladesh's capital, killing at least 81 people, officials and witnesses said Thursday. The fire in Dhaka's Chawkbazar area was mostly under control after more than 10 hours of frantic firefighting efforts. About 50 people were injured, with some critically burned. The district dating to the Mughal era 400 years ago is crammed with buildings separated by narrow alleys, with residences commonly above shops, restaurants or warehouses on the ground floors. Denizens of the Muslim-majority nation throng to Chawkbazar each year for traditional goods to celebrate iftar, when the daily fast is broken during Ramadan. "I was talking to a customer, suddenly he shouted at me, 'Fire! Fire!'" said Javed Hossain, a survivor who came to assess the damage to his grocery store Thursday afternoon. "I said 'Oh, Allah,' in a fraction of a second the fire caught my shop." Hossain's brother took his hand and they leaped onto the street before the shop was engulfed in flames. Outside the gutted store, the road was strewn with charred vehicles, pieces of still-burning metal and plastics and hundreds of cans of body deodorant. The blaze started late Wednesday night in one building and quickly spread to others, fire department Director General Brig. Gen. Ali Ahmed said. Many of the victims were trapped inside the buildings, said Mahfuz Riben, a control room official f...
Source: JEMS: Journal of Emergency Medical Services News - Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: International News Source Type: news