Health Minister Samanta Lal Sen today said at least 46 dead in the devastating fire that razed through a commercial building in the capital’s Bailey Road area last night.
“The deadly inferno originated last night at a multi-storey commercial building in city’s Bailey Road so far reached 46…even the alive burnt patients who are now undergoing treatment at the hospital are not even out of risk”, said the health minister while addressing a press briefing the Sheikh Hasina National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute here this morning.
The tragic incident that happened was not at all desirable, said the minister, adding “We are trying our best for saving their lives…now we will hold a meeting with the physicians and make a way out on how to manage the situation.”
Before the press meet, the minister visited all the burnt patients who are now undergoing treatment at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital and Sheikh Hasina National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute.
Of the burnt injuries, ten are being treated at Sheikh Hasina National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute and two others are at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
The minister, himself a doctor and burn wound specialist, said 22 people were being treated at both the facilities.
He added that the conditions of all the 22 people are critical.
Doctors at the DMCH and the adjacent facility said that some of the bodies were burned beyond recognition and feared the death toll could rise.
Fire service officials said they salvaged some 75 people, including 42 in an unconscious state from the scene, a seven-storey building.
The fire broke out at around 9:50pm at a restaurant called “Kachchi Bhai” located on the first floor (US: 2nd floor) and quickly spread upstairs where some more restaurants and a readymade garments shop were housed.
Witnesses and officials said the panicked people tried to rush upstairs to be chased by the blaze as well while the firefighters rescued many of them using ladders.