Hospitals swamped as Dhaka blaze kills 109

Hospitals in Dhaka struggled on Friday to cope with scores of critical burn victims from a fire that killed 109 people.


Afp June 04, 2010

Hospitals in Dhaka struggled on Friday to cope with scores of critical burn victims from a fire that tore through a densely populated area of the Bangladeshi capital, killing more than 100 people.

Army medical teams were called in to help overwhelmed staff at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital -- the country's largest -- where most of the victims, many of them with life-threatening injuries, were taken.

The blaze raged for three hours late on Thursday, destroying a row of multi-storey apartment buildings, one of which was hosting a packed wedding party. "At least 109 people have died and we are expecting the toll to rise as at least 10 more victims are in critical condition," the city's district administrator Muhibul Haque said.

Hundreds of people were trapped in burning buildings for hours as rescue workers struggled to contain the blaze, their work hampered by the narrow lanes of the crowded residential area in Old Dhaka, the historic heart of the city.

Dhaka fire department chief Abu Nayeem, calling it the "most deadly fire incident in the country's history", told AFP that the blaze had been caused by an electrical fault and took grip before firefighters could access the area.

"At the same time, cooking for the wedding feast was going on at the ground floor staircase of the wedding party building, which fuelled the flames," Nayeem said.

"People joining the wedding party were trapped in the building and suffocated or burnt as they could not come out because the cooking spread the fire through the staircase."

More than 40 bodies of wedding guests were recovered. One witness told AFP: "The bride was spared from the fire as she had been at the local beauty salon."

Nearly 100 people were admitted to the Medical College with severe burns or smoke inhalation, and hospital director Shamanto Lal Sen said they had tried to transfer stable patients elsewhere and focus on treating 50 critical cases.

All off-duty medical personnel were called in and by Friday morning, the wards and corridors of the hospital were overflowing with badly burned patients and weeping relatives.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was scheduled to visit the injured on Friday, announced a full investigation into the blaze. At least seven buildings were engulfed, including a bakery with several large gas burners and a string of small shops selling cheap, flammable plastic goods.

"The temperature and fumes became unbearable because of the chemicals," Nayeem said. "We struggled to get inside due to the narrow stairways of the very old buildings, it was almost impossible for us to get firefighting equipment into the area," he added.

After the blaze was finally brought under control, Nayeem said emergency workers had scoured "every inch of the fire-hit buildings" for any possible survivors.

Fires due to short-circuits, substandard wiring and electrical faults are common in Bangladesh, where building regulations are rarely enforced.

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