At least 43 people were killed and several more were wounded in an overnight fire at a six-story retail mall in the capital of Bangladesh, the health minister said on Friday.
The building in Dhaka’s central area caught fire late on Thursday, according to Health Minister Samanta Lal Sen. According to him, by early Friday, at least 43 people had perished, and at least 22 others were receiving medical attention. Firefighters had saved lives and removed the dead.
According to firefighters, the fire started at a well-known restaurant located on the mall’s first level in a bustling business sector in the center of the city, trapping a large number of people.
It took some time to identify the fire’s source.
Sen said that ten more individuals died after being transferred to the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery and that at least 33 people—including women and children—were pronounced dead at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
The Green Cozy Cottage Shopping Mall caught fire, and more than a dozen firefighting units were sent in to put it out, according to Brig. Gen. Md. Main Uddin, Director General of Fire Service and Civil Defense.
Rescuers reported that they had extracted at least 75 individuals from the structure, 42 of whom were unconscious.