At least 45 people have been killed in a restaurant fire incident at a six-storied building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, the country’s health minister has confirmed. Many have also been injured and are receiving treatment for various degrees of burns.
Fire fighters who arrived at the scene rescued the situation, and delivered some injured victims for immediate treatment.
Samanta Lal Sen, health minister of Bangladesh says 22 people are being treated and are in a “critical condition” following a visit to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Medical experts say that many dead were killed by suffocation including some who jumped off the building to escape the flames.
Initial investigations trace the fire outbreak, which spread to local restaurants, to a gas leak or stove left unattended.
“The fire could have originated from a gas leak or stove,” said Main Uddin, brigadier general, a top fire service official.
“It was a dangerous building with gas cylinders on every floor, even on the stairs,” he said
In the meantime, the government has set up a five-member panel to investigate the incident.
