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Fire death toll rises to 117

Chemicals stored in residential building added fuel

Kailash Sarkar and Shaheen Mollah
The death toll from Nimtoli blaze rose to 117 yesterday and may go up even further as most of those wounded are in critical condition, said a government official.
The cause of the fire, biggest since independence, could not yet be known for certain.
But one thing is sure chemicals had fed into the flames that gutted eight buildings and over 20 shops at Nawab Katra of Nimtoli in old part of the capital on Thursday night.
Mohibul Haque, deputy commissioner of Dhaka, stud the rescuers have so far retrieved 112 bodies, and five of the victims have died in hospitals.
He said they have handed over 102 bodies to relatives, while the rest remain unidentified.
Given the condition of those injured it is very likely the death toll would increase, added the district administrator.
At least 40 people with severe burns were undergoing
treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital and Combined Military Hospital yesterday.
In Old Dhaka, neighbourhoods were sunk in gloom. They were battling to come to terms with the sheer scale of the devastation wrought by the blaze the night before.
The air was heavy with families wailing for the lost ones. Shops and buildings in ruins lined the rainswept alleyways covered in thick mud blackened by chemicals.
Many locals were fuming over prevalence of chemical shops and go-downs, haphazardly set up transformers and electrical wires hanging precariously overhead.
They demanded immediate removal of those so that nothing like Thursday night's recurs.
Of the affected families, one has lost 1 Imembers.
Locals said only those who were not in their houses or the shops could escape the disaster.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Leader of the Opposition Khaleda Zia, Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad, ministers, lawmakers, leaders of other political parties and senior officials visited the victims at DMCH yesterday.
Hasina said her government will give the affected families compensation and do everything necessary for their rehabilitation.
Earlier, DC Dhaka announced the administration will pay Tk 20,000 for burial of each of the bodies. It will also ensure treatment facilities for the wounded.
At the scene, fire service had called off rescue efforts around 5:00am. But on repeated pleas from locals, they resumed the operation and retrieved six more bodies.
Locals fear more bodies might be trapped in rubble.
Meanwhile, there is still ambiguity over how the fire broke out. Officials would not say anything in this regard until aprobeisdone.
Locals and fire-fighters said the blaze started in a five-storey building, where an engagement function (Panchini) was going on.
On the ground floor of that building, cooks had been preparing foods since early afternoon.
For long exposure to intense heat from stoves, chemicals stored in adjacent room caught fire round about 8:45pm. Soon flames engulfed the buildings and shops.
Sparks from electric wires and gas leaks are believed to have added to the ferocity of the blaze.
Some said explosion of two transformers had started the fire, while some others said it began at a bakery and then spread to the transformers.
Brig Gen Abu Nayeem Md Shahidullah, director general of Fire Service and Civil Defence, said there are four probable causes of the fire.
"It [The blaze] might have been started from an oil-fired oven or from the chemical go-down or transformer blasts or a tea stall in front of the building," he added.
There is however no doubt the chemicals swelled the flames, allowing the occupants of the buildings little time to flee the raging inferno.
Raj, brother of Taj who died on the ground floor, said the go-down had two truckloads of chemicals two days ago.
Shakil, a bank employee who was going home through Nimtoli, said, "Hearing cries for help, I stopped my bike. But as flames came rushing towards me, I sped off.”
Besides heavy casualties, the fire caused extensive damage to property and valuables. Particularly, the shops were completelywrecked.
Of those who died in the shops, mostwere burnt alive and those who were inside the buildings died of suffocation, said witnesses and hospital staff.
Throughout the day yesterday, hundreds of people from across the city crowded into Nimtoli. While most were there to see at firsthand the ruins, many weresearchingfordearones.
Immediately after the disaster struck, electricity and gas supplies were cut off anti it remained that way till at 9:00pm.
Meanwhile, no case was filed in connection with the incident. Abdul Mannan, officer-in-charge of Bangshal Police Station, last night told The Daily Star they would file a case after a preliminaryprobe.
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