Survivors wept on Friday over lost loved ones, including 15 members of a wedding party, as the death toll from the Bangladeshi capital’s worst fire in recent history rose to 117. More than 100 others were injured, many with severe burns.
The blaze started on Thursday night when an electrical transformer exploded soon after a rainstorm swept the city, police officer Abul Kalam said.
The explosion ignited a shop storing flammable chemicals, from where the flames quickly spread to at least six apartment buildings and about 15 stores in the Najirabazar area of old Dhaka, some packed with old newspapers sold for scrap. The transformer explosion also plunged the area into darkness, making escape more difficult.
“There were screams, shouts for help and total chaos,” Mr Kalam said.
Fire official Abdus Salam said firefighters were delayed because their vehicles couldn’t fit through the narrow streets and there was no nearby source of water.
Firefighters and residents carried victims to hospitals on three-wheeled rickshaws as relatives wailed.
The state-run Dhaka Medical College Hospital was overwhelmed with burn victims. Burn unit chief Shamanta Lal Sen said it was the worst disaster he had seen in his 40-year career.
The death toll could increase because some people were still feared trapped in the rubble, he said. Bangladesh will hold national mourning for the dead Saturday when flags are to be flown at half-staff and special prayers to be held at places of worships across the country.
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Contempt petition on Gilani
AGE correspondent
Islamabad
June 4: A contempt of court petition was filed against Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in a court of law on Friday, officials said.
Petitioner Ghulam Nabi in his plea — submitted in the Lahore high court — said that when a case regarding President Asif Ali Zardari’s dual office has been under court hearing, the Prime Minister told a recent public meeting that the President can hold two offices which is tantamount to contempt of court. Chief Justice of Lahore high court Justice Khwaja Mohammed Sharif constituted a five-member bench for hearing the petition. The bench that will hear the President’s dual office case on June 14 and will also hear the contempt petition against the Prime Minister.