KUALA LUMPUR, March 1 (KUNA) -- At least 45 people perished in a fiery fire that gutted a six-storey building in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka late on Thursday, the country's Minister of Health Samanta LaL Sen said on Friday.
Speaking at a news conference, excerpts of which were broadcast by the Bangladeshi media and monitored in Kuala Lumpur, the minister said 22 critically injured people were hospitalized.
The fire that started at a restaurant rapidly spread due to gas leakage and firemen managed to contain the blazes in two hours, according to the fire authority. Cranes were brought to the scene to rescue people stranded at the building's floors. The media quoted doctors as saying that most of the victims died due to suffocation and others met their fate after jumping from the building.
Fires are a frequent occurrence in Dhaka where many high-rise buildings lack proper safety readiness.
In July 2021, 54 people died in a fire at a food factory near Dhaka and 70 people perished in an identical incident in the capital in February 2019. (end) aib.rk