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Explosion, fire at BCIC building

1 killed, 10 injured

Staff Correspondent
One person was killed and 10 others were injured in a devastating fire at the BCIC building (Sadan) in the city's Motijheel commercial area yesterday.
The dead was identified as Noor-e-Malek Mujibur Rahman. 42. CBA general secretary of Ghorashal Urea Fertiliser Factory.
The injured were rushed to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital and later shifted to the City Hospital, said hospital sources.
Following the fire incident traffic on Motijheel-Jatrabari road was interrupted for over four hours in front of the BCIC Sadan.
Witnesses said the accident started with a huge bang around 9:35am. They saw an air conditioner and other electronic equipment at the BCIC building blow up and hit the glass-wall on the first, second and third floors of Alico building, which is just opposite the BCIC building across the road.
They added that following the incident they saw huge black smoke emitting from the second floor of the BCIC building engulfing the entire five-storey building.
Deputy Director (DD) of Fire Brigade Abdur Rashid told The Daily Star. "The fire might have originated from a gaspipeline or an air conditioner explosion. The wave of the explosion and heat of the fire damaged glass of adjacent buildings."
. The explosion occurred at the office of The Padma Fabric (Pvt) Ltd on the second floor and soon the entire floor caught ■ fire, he added.
Though the fire was restricted on the second floor, smoke and heat damaged office equipment of other floors except the ground floor of the building, he said, adding that fire fighters using ladder rescued the people trapped in the BCIC guest houseon the fourth floor around 10:30am.
The rescued fell unconscious due to smoke and were sent to DMCH where Noor-e-Malek died, sources said.
Dr Shamonto Lal Sen, project director of DMCH burn unit, told The Daily Star that of the injured, eight were in a critical
SEE PAGE 15 COL 3 FROM PAGE 16 condition and needed to be admitted to Intensive Care Unit (ICU). As DMCH burn unit has no ICU facilities they had to shift the injured to the City Hospital, he added.
Health Minister AFM Ruhal Haque visited the patients at DMCH.
Raisul Islam, manager of Tritech Computers and Engineering on the second floor of the BCIC building, said Padma Fabric had been closed for a long time. The company stored different chemicals in their office, which might have caused the explosion.
However, DD Abdur Rashid of fire brigade said they found no chemical stored in the Padma Fabric office.
He said as most of the offices in the building were closed the casualties were less.
The fire fighters doused the blaze around 11:00am and opened the road for traffic around 2:00pm, added the DD.
Besides the BCIC. two other fire incidents occurred at BNP central office at Naya Paltan and a residential building at Baridhara in the capital yesterday. None was reported injured in these two incidents.
An electric short-circuit occurred at a room on the third floor of the BNP office around 12:55pm.
Fire fighters immediately reached the spot and brought the fire under control within a few minutes, said the fire brigade sources.
In other incident, fire destroyed everything of a room of former secretary Mohammad Mahbubul Haque's house at Baridhara around 10:40am.
Station Officer of Baridhara fire station Syed Monir- ul-Islam said the fire originated from an electric short-circuit that damaged an air conditioner, a fax machine, books, three television sets and other belongings in the room on the second floor.
Fire fighters doused the blaze around 12:30pm, he added.