At least seven people were killed and 25 others injured Friday in the roaring fire at the country's largest shopping mall, Bashundhara City, that also devastated its top six floors, reports UNB.
All the ill-fated victims of the fire incident have been identified. They are Bashundhara City complex fireman Baki Billah, 45, electricity helper Ibrahim Mondal, 37, fire instructor Harun-or-Rashid, 40, senior civilian supervisor Mohammad Ali, 60, tiles worker Hamidul Islam, 25, painter Renu Sarker, 26, and fire alarm technician M Anisur Rahman, 24.
Among them, Baki Billah suffered serious burn injuries and died at Shamarita Hospital at about 4pm Friday. Later, four more bodies were retrieved from the elevator on the 11th floor, while two others from either the 17th or the 18th floor.
Sources at Dhaka Medical College Hospital said the bodies have been handed over to their relatives.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Saturday visited the Bashundhara City. PM's press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told reporters that, while coming to her Dhanmondi office from her official Jamuna residence to attend a party meeting, she dropped in the shopping mall and inquired about the progress in the investigation as well as the damage done by the infernal fire. PM's adviser Maj Gen (retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddiqui was present.
However, the cause of the fire or actual damage in terms of money could not yet be gathered. According to Bashundhara City officials and shopkeepers, the fire mainly engulfed the corporate and commercial offices on top levels of the building. The shops and goods down the floors were not damaged.
The shopping mall will remain closed until today (Sunday).
Adviser to the Basundhara Group chairman, Mustafa Kamal Mohiuddin, said the company was considering what it could do for the victim's families.
An information desk has been set up on the ground floor of the building to coordinate activities of the corporate offices that were gutted in the fire. The mall will be reopened to shoppers in 2-3 days, said Mohiuddin.
General secretary of Basundhara's shop owners association, Khalilur Rahman, said only they and the building's other workers would be allowed to enter the premises during the period.
Rahman said none of the shops were damaged in the fire that engulfed the upper floors though some merchandise was damaged to due to water poured in to extinguish the fire.
A Bashundhara Group official, however, ordered employees who were talking to the media not to make any further comments to the press. Bashundhara security men also reportedly obstructed members of the media who were trying to get information about the fire's aftermath and trail of damage.
A three-member inquiry committee, visited the site Saturday to start looking into what fire safety measures were actually in place at the multistorey shopping and office complex.
Meanwhile, a day after the terrible fire at the Bashundhara City, Home Minister Sahara Khatun Saturday said the Fire Brigade will be modernised soon with high-tech equipment and training for fire-fighters to tackle any such dreadful fire in the future.
The minister made the remarks as the Fire Bridge personnel were seen helpless in extinguishing the fire on top floors of the 21-storey shopping mall, as they had no ladder or equipment to put out blaze beyond the 13th floor.
"The Prime Minister has asked to set up fire bridge office in each upazila and procure necessary equipment speedily," she told reporters after visiting the burn-injured people being treated at Shamarita Hospital Saturday.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith also visited the injured people at the hospital at Panthapath close to the Bashundhara City mall.
