The devastating fire that broke out at the 14-storey Khawaja Tower in city’s Mohakhali on Thursday afternoon was doused after around 12 hours.
Md Shahjahan Shikdar, deputy assistant director (media cell) of the Fire Service and Civil Defence said, “The blaze was completely doused at 8:45am on Friday.”
Meanwhile, the death toll from the fire rose to three with the death of Aklima Akter, 30, at around 1:15am.
Md Rafiqul Islam, 63, was pronounced dead after being brought to Dhaka Medical College Hospital on Thursday evening.
Meanwhile, Hasna Hena, 27, fell to her death while trying to escape the flames.
Fire Service and Civil Defence chief Brigadier General Md Main Uddin told that tere was no fire safety plan at Khawaja Tower in Mohakhali.
We found some fire extinguishers on different floors, and they were working. But the fire spread due to the presence of a large amount of flammable materials, he added
Meanwhile, broadband internet services suffered major damage due to the fire at Khawaja Tower. The mishap also affected mobile internet and voice calls, but less so than broadband internet.
The number of broadband internet users in the country is 12.15 million and around 40% of them experienced outages due to the fire.
On the other hand, at least 20% of the country's total mobile internet users (119.79 million) were unable to get access to the internet and facing trouble using social media platforms such as Facebook, with many also reporting voice call issues.
It may take a week to restore internet services fully, said The Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB).
Data centres and servers of several firms are housed in the building.
As the access to the building is currently restricted by law enforcement for security reasons, the repair work is impossible to start, according to Emdadul Hoque, president of ISPAB.
"No one is allowed to enter the building for security reasons. Restoring services will be time-consuming without access to the equipment and the building," he said on Friday, a day after the fire incident.