Woman dies, several injured in building fire

In an attempt to escape a fire, a woman tried to descend from a high-rise building in the capital by using a rope on Thursday, but fell down and met with a tragic death.
A staff member at the information centre of Metropolitan Medical Centre Ltd, where she was taken, told the FE that a fire victim named Hasna Begum, aged nearly 27, was admitted to the hospital. The duty doctor later declared her dead.
The fire broke out on the 13th floor of the 14-story building named Khawaja Tower in Mohakhali area around 5 pm, fire service officials said.
Six people were injured as the fire service officials rescued them, fire service official Shahjahan Shikdar said.
Several other individuals also sustained injuries while descending from the building by using ropes as broken glasses fell on their heads. Moreover, many people have fallen ill due to smoke inhalation.
According to Fire Service and Civil Defence headquarters, at least 11 fire fighting units were engaged to extinguish the blaze. The Army, Navy, and Air Force later joined the fire fighters.
The 14-story building houses offices of different banks, IT firms, and other private organisations.
Internet services at different parts of the city were disrupted as the building houses offices of a few internet service providers (ISPs).
Details about the cause of the fire could not be known immediately.
Fire fighting units were working to douse the flame until filing of the report around 9 pm.

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