Food lovers and family members from nearby areas usually frequent the restaurants on Bailey Road in Dhaka. Many people flocked to ‘Green Cozy Cottage Shopping Mall’ housing several restaurants on the occasion of the leap year on Thursday, a day before the weekend.
But a deadly fire broke out at the multi-storey building also known as ‘Kachchi Bhai’ building around 9:50 pm. As the dense smoke surrounded the people in the building, they started running to and fro in fears.
Though fire-fighters brought the blaze under control within two hours, finally 46 people lost their lives in the devastating fire.
The Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD) said that the building authorities did not take any steps for fire safety even after they served three notices on them.
The seven-storey building on Bailey Road had no fire safety system. Fire service has written to them three times stating that the building is risky. But no steps had been taken in this regard, said FSCD Director General Md Main Uddin on Friday.
Secretary of security service division under the home ministry Md Abdullah Al Masud Chowdhury told reporters that except for a few restaurants in the building, most had no fire extinguishers.
“There was an oversight here. The investigation committee will find out who is responsible for this incident,” he added.
In reply to the question whether the building was approved or not, the secretary said that Rajuk and the inquiry committee will look into it.
Ashraful Islam, chief town planner and detailed area plan project of Rajuk, told the media that commercial approval was taken for one to seven floors of the building. But it was only for office use. No approval was given for restaurants, showrooms or anything else.
Building was like an inferno
The locals said that the seven-storey building had different restaurants, including Pizza Inn, Street Oven, and Khanas, alongside a branch of Kacchi Bhai on the second floor. There were also popular stores, including Alien and Closet Cloud. There was a Samsung showroom on the ground floor, a Gadgets and Gears and two other mobile phone shops.
Survivors said that the fire originated at the ground floor of the building. That's why many people could not come down. And the only stairs to climb up was narrow. It was difficult to breathe due to smoke. Somehow they managed to climb onto the roof. After the fire, the whole building turned into an inferno.
FSCD Director General Brigadier General Md Main Uddin commented that the fire-damaged building on Bailey Road also had gas cylinders on the stairwell. That is why the building became an inferno.
Talking to the reporters on Friday noon, he said that the fire broke out on the second floor of Kacchi Bhai restaurant around 9:50 pm on Thursday. The fire was brought under control at 11:50 pm with the efforts of 13 fire service units.
Police, RAB, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), and Ansar helped the FSCD bring the situation under control. The fire spread very quickly in the building as gas cylinders were there and closed all over the building.
Besides, there was only one stairs in that building. That is why people could not get out and many went to the building rooftop. People died or became unconscious there due to suffocation.
The FSCD, however, recovered three bodies, with 42 others in unconscious state. They also rescued 75 people alive.
Main Uddin said they came to know that there was a clothes shop on the first floor of this building. There were restaurants on the other floors. They suspected that the fire could originate from a gas stove.
At least 46 people lost their lives
The death toll from the devastating fire that tore through a commercial building reached 46 on Friday morning.
Health Minister Dr Samanta Lal Sen confirmed the matter while talking to the media at Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery on Friday morning.
Police said they came to know that around 46 people died in the fire. Among them, 32 people died at emergency department of DMCH, 10 people died at Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery. Apart from this, one died at Rajarbagh Police lines Hospital and three died on the spot.
Mostly died due to suffocation
Dr Samanta Lal Sen said that those who died also suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning. That is smoke went into the throat when there was no smoke escape in a closed room. Those who inhaled too much smoke died.
Regarding the number of injured, the health minister said that 12 people were admitted--10 at Sheikh Hasina Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery and two at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. “None of them is out of danger,” he added.
40 bodies handed over to families yet
Dhaka district administration additional district magistrate AKM Hedayetul Islam told The Business Post at 5:30pm that among the deceased, they have identified 40 dead bodies so far and 40 people have been handed over to their relatives.
It has been decided to pay Tk 25,000 for carrying the dead body. So far three families have taken this money. The rest did not take the money because they were wealthy, he said.
Case filing on the process
Citing that many of the injured were found on the third or fourth floor, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Habibur Rahman told reporters that a case will be filed for identifying whether the building was constructed properly and if there is any negligence. The police will investigate it.
On Friday, DMP’s additional commissioner (crime) K Mohiuddin told The Business Post that the process of filing the case is going on.
He also said that they detained two owners of Cha Chumuk Tea Stall Anwarul Haque and Shafiqur Rahman Rimon as well as Kachchi Bhai manager Md Jisan for questioning.
The police will file a case as the plaintiff in a fire incident alleging death due to negligence. Anyone from the victims’ families can file a case if they want, he added.
FSCD faced difficulties due to crowd
Earlier, it was found that all the floors of the seven-storied building were damaged. There was a crowd of people around the building for no apparent reason. Police and fire services faced difficulties while working for the unnecessary crowd.
