Massive blaze in Dhaka kills 78 and injures 55

The flames from a fire which burned for over nine hours in the centre of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, have left at least 78 people dead, and hundreds more injured, with serious burns. The fire, in the old neighbourhood of Chawkbazar, spread incredibly quickly, from building to building and car to car, in narrow historic streets where houses are only centimetres apart, and a traffic jam was taking place.

Witnesses said the blaze may have started whena gasoline container being stored in a car exploded, causing the adjacent five storey building to catch alight. The building was residential in nature, but the first floor was being used as a plastics and chemical warehouse and shop, and the products being stored were said to be highly flammable. An injured man being admitted to hospital after the blaze, Mohammad Salahuddin, said “the chemical containers on the upper floors were burning, and sending liquid fireballs down to street level”. Of the 55 people said to have been injured, at least nine are in critical condition, and the majority are suffering from serious burns and chemical burns.

The fire highlights the precarious nature of habitation in the dense, labyrinthine historical core, of the capital of one of the poorest countries on the planet.