The fire, which struck Green Cozy Cottage Shopping Mall late on Thursday, started in a biryani restaurant on the first floor, with 13 units of firefighters battling for two hours to douse the flames, Aljazeera reports.
Doctors said most of the dead suffocated, with others dying as they jumped off the building. Dozens of people are being treated for burn wounds in two state-run hospitals.
Brigadier General Main Uddin, a top fire service official, said that the fire could have originated from a gas leak or stove. “It was a dangerous building with gas cylinders on every floor, even on the staircases,” he told reporters.
Relatives gathered at the hospital early on Friday to receive the bodies of the dead, with some mourning outside the emergency department. Health Minister Samanta Lal Sen told reporters that he expected the death toll to rise.
Survivor Mohammad Altaf recounted his narrow escape. “I went to the kitchen, broke a window and jumped to save myself,” he told reporters, adding that a cashier and server who urged people to leave during the first moments had died later.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed shock and sorrow over the incident, ordering officials to provide swift treatment for the injured.
The government has set up a five-member panel to investigate the incident.
MNA/PR
