Dhaka: In a tragic incident, at least 69 people were killed and several others injured when a devastating fire broke out in an apartment building also used as a chemical warehouse in Chawkbazar here in Bangladesh on Thursday.
The injured were rushed to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital here.
Fire control room official Mahfuz Riben told AFP that 69 people had been killed while Bangladesh’s fire service Chief Ali Ahmed said the death toll could rise further.
Ahmed said the blaze which began at 10.40 PM yesterday, might have originated from a gas cylinder and quickly spread through the building where highly flammable chemicals were stored.
Ahmed also said the fire has been confined but not yet doused despite the efforts of more than 200 firefighters.
Some floors of the destroyed buildings had chemicals and plastic in storage, sources said.
Notably, a similar blaze in an old building in Dhaka, which was also used as a chemical warehouse, had killed more than 120 people in 2010.
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Ms Kalinga