A devastating fire erupted on Thursday afternoon in a high-rise building, Khawaja Tower on the Mohakhali-Gulshan Link Road in Amatoli area of the capital city.
According to eyewitnesses, the building is a ‘high-rise’ structure, situated adjacent to the headquarters of the Department of Disaster Management.
A total of 11 units have been engaged in firefighting efforts, with additional support from the Bangladesh Army, the Bangladesh Navy, and the Bangladesh Air Force personnel.
Rozina Akter, duty officer of Fire Service and Civil Defence Headquarters said, the first fire fighting unit of the Fire Service and Civil Defence reached the spot at around 5:07pm.
Residents from the upper floors of the building sought rescue assistance as the fire had already spread to the rooftop, according to eyewitnesses.
A woman fall to her death in her desperation to escape from the high-rise building using a cable.
Several others were injured as they tried to get away from the fire or by falling glasses at the 14-storey Khawaja Tower. Some fell sick after inhaling smoke.
Woman died after falling from Mohakhali high-rise during fire incident.
Md Ariful, a receptionist at Metropolitan Hospital in the area, said the woman was brought dead to the private facility. She could not be identified immediately.
However, unverified sources said the victim was identified as Hasna Hena, 27.
Local shopkeeper Paban Saha, who saw the woman falling, said several people tried to get off the building by using a cable about 5:30pm, around half an hour after the fire broke out on the 12th floor of the building.
One of them, a woman in burqa, fell on the outdoor unit of an air-conditioner and then on the ground, he said.
An onlooker tried to hold the falling woman but both were injured in the process and then rushed to the hospital.
The building houses banks, IT firms and other private companies.
Earth Telecom and Race Online have their offices and server rooms on the eighth and ninth floors of the building. Race Online is a venture of Earth Telecom.
An employee of the company said they heard one of their female colleagues fell while trying to get off through a back window.
The woman died after falling from Mohakhali high-rise during fire incident.
Anisur Rahman, an official of Universal Medical College and Hospital in Mohakhali, said two victims of the fire were brought to the hospital.
One of them suffered burns on one hand and the other person’s leg was broken.
Firefighters said that they rescued five people from the building.
The authorities blocked Bir Uttam AK Khandaker Road from Mohakhali’s Amtoli to Gulshan after the incident.
The fire is causing disruption in internet and telecommunication services as the building houses operation centres of several international internet gateway (IIG) service providers, data centres and interconnection exchanges (ICXs).
Md Emdadul Hoque, president of the Internet Service Providers’ Association of Bangladesh said, many IIG operators run their operations from the building from where broadband and telecom service providers get bandwidth.