Scores of people have been killed after a massive fire raced through several apartment buildings also used as chemical warehouses in a centuries-old part of Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, according to fire officials.
Dozens of people were trapped in the buildings, unable to escape onto narrow streets clogged with traffic, as the highly-combustible stores of chemicals, body sprays and plastic granules erupted in flames, AFP reported.
The devastating blaze, which broke out around 10.40pm (16:40 GMT) on Wednesday at a building in Chawkbazar, in the old part of Dhaka, was not yet entirely under control as of Thursday morning.
The fire might have originated from a gas cylinder before quickly spreading through the building, the country’s fire service chief Ali Ahmed told AFP.
Local news site BDNews24 added that the ground floor of the building housed shops, with the first floor used to store plastics, cosmetics and perfumes.
Several families lived on the other floors of the building.
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