Seven-story building in Dhaka is hit by a deadly blast, leaving 16 people dead and more than 100 injured
Bangladesh: A seven-story structure is shaken by an explosion that kills 16 people and injures over 100 more.
Locals speculated that the explosion may have been caused
by chemicals that were illegally stored within the structure, which served
largely as an office and commercial complex, however, the cause of the incident
was not immediately determined.
16 people are killed and over 100 injured when an explosion rocks a seven-story building in Dhaka.
An enormous explosion that shook a seven-story building in
the congested Gulistan district of Old Dhaka, Bangladesh, has left at least 16
people dead and over 100 more wounded. The event happened on Tuesday at about 4:50
pm when the boom shook the whole Siddik Bazar neighborhood. Although the
exact cause of the explosion is still unknown, locals have made the assumption
that chemicals that were being illegally kept inside the structure may have set
off the explosion.
The building, which is largely an office and commercial
complex, contains various sanitary goods outlets on the ground level, and a
branch of the BRAC Bank is housed in the structure next to it. The bank's glass
walls were broken by the explosion, and a bus that was parked on the other side
of the street was also damaged. According to the fire officials, the bomb
happened on the bottom floor, and the building's first two stories suffered
serious damage.
200 firefighters were dispatched to the scene in 11
firefighting units as soon as the explosion occurred. A bomb disposal crew from
the Quick Action Battalion was also dispatched to the area to look at the
structures. Several injured people were transported to the Dhaka Medical
College Hospital, where they are now being treated in the emergency department.
Tragic eyewitness testimonies were horrifying. Local
shopkeeper Safayet Hossain compared the explosion to an earthquake and said
that the whole Siddik Bazar region was shaken by the explosion. He recalled
witnessing 20 to 25 individuals laying in the street in front of the wrecked
structure, bleeding badly and pleading for aid. Also, he saw that some people
were frantically rushing around as locals transported the injured to the
hospital in vans and rickshaws.
The police said they would continue to look into the
possibilities of sabotage even though they have ruled it out as the cause of
the explosion. Only two days prior, an explosion at a building in Dhaka's
Science Laboratory neighborhood claimed three lives and injured a number of
others. In an explosion that occurred last week at a private oxygen factory in
the port city of Chattogram in the southeast, seven persons were killed and
several more were hurt.
The current death toll of 16 might grow as the rescue
operation continues, according to a fire department officer. Many city dwellers
are concerned about the safety of their homes and places of business as a
result of the blast's shockwaves throughout the metropolis. Many are urging for
greater enforcement of safety laws to stop such tragedies from occurring in the
future while investigations into the explosion's cause continue.
