The explosion occurred inside a five-storey constructing in a bustling industrial district in Bangladesh’s capital.
At the very least 15 individuals have been killed and 140 injured in an explosion inside an workplace constructing within the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, police and hearth service officers have mentioned.
The explosion shook the fourth and fifth flooring of a five-storey constructing in Gulistan, a serious hub for wholesale items within the capital, shortly earlier than 5pm native time (11:00 GMT) on Tuesday.
Authorities couldn’t instantly present the explanation behind the massive explosion within the bustling industrial space.
“To this point, 15 individuals (two girls and 13 males) have died and greater than 140 injured have been dropped at the Dhaka Medical School Hospital (DMCH),” Inspector Bachchu Mia was quoted as saying by Bangladesh’s Every day Star newspaper and the Reuters information company.
No hearth broke out within the constructing however greater than 150 firefighters have been on the website to help in rescue efforts, a fireplace providers spokesperson informed AFP.
A middle-aged man in a blood-soaked shirt informed reporters he had been injured within the blast, which shattered home windows and broken a wall of the constructing.
“There have been individuals mendacity on the ground. I escaped by climbing out of the window,” he mentioned.
Historical past of fireside accidents
Bangladesh has a historical past of business disasters, together with factories catching hearth with employees trapped inside. Monitoring teams have blamed corruption and lax enforcement.
In 2012, about 117 employees died once they have been trapped behind locked exits in a garment manufacturing facility in Dhaka.
The nation’s worst industrial catastrophe occurred the next yr, when the Rana Plaza garment manufacturing facility outdoors Dhaka collapsed, killing greater than 1,100 individuals.
In 2019, a blaze ripped by means of a 400-year-old space cramped with flats, outlets and warehouses within the oldest a part of Dhaka and killed not less than 67 individuals. One other hearth in Outdated Dhaka in a home illegally storing chemical compounds killed not less than 123 individuals in 2010.
In 2021, a fireplace at a meals and beverage manufacturing facility outdoors Dhaka killed not less than 52 individuals, lots of whom have been trapped inside by an illegally locked door.
Final yr, a fireplace at a delivery container storage depot close to the nation’s foremost Chittagong Seaport killed not less than 41 individuals, together with 9 firefightersand injured greater than 100 others.
