Bailey Road fire: RAB DG explains the start and spread of fire
The fire started from a small shop on the ground floor of the seven-storey building on Bailey Road in the capital. Since there were a number of gas cylinders, they exploded and the fire rapidly spread throughout the building.
Director general (DG) of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), additional IGP Khurshid Hossain said this while visiting Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery today, Friday morning. He revealed this information citing the fire service.
The RAB director general came to the burn and plastic surgery institute after visiting the spot of the accident. He said, “I had talked to the fire service deputy director present there (at the multi-storey building). Plus, I have visited the spot myself.”
“The fire had started from a small shop on the ground floor, from a cylinder, according to what he informed me. Initially, they had tried to control the fire with extinguishers. There were several other cylinders there and the fire spread very fast as those being exploded,” he added.
Most of the people died of suffocation from the smoke, said the RAB director general. Only a few of them have died from burning, he added.
There was only a single staircase with two lifts on the seven-storey building. The RAB director general said that the power was cut as soon as the fire erupted and the lifts shut down immediately.
He said, “What I learnt from talking to others is that people thought that the fire started on the ground floor when they tried to get down and thought the opposite when they were on the upper levels. There were incidents like this.”
If given the charge by the government they will investigate the fire incident, said the RAB director general.
What had actually happened will also be described in their reports, he added.
The building caught fire at around 9:45 pm on Thursday. The death toll in the fire has risen to 46 till this afternoon. It is being feared that the number of death in this incident might increase even further.
Health minister Samanta Lal Sen said that 10 people are admitted in Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery while two others are undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
The building housed an eatery named ‘Kacchi Bhai’ on the second floor and a clothing shop on the third floor. Plus, there were more restaurants on the upper floors. It usually sees a rush in the evening, with people dining out with their families.