Four-story apartment building collapses in Bangladesh’s capital, 14 bodies found

Building collapses in Bangladesh, 14 bodies found

DHAKA, Bangladesh — A four-story apartment building collapsed in Bangladesh’s capital and its debris buried some nearby shanties, killing at least 14 people and leaving several others trapped, authorities said Wednesday.

Fire official Abdus Salam said some of those trapped were feared dead.

Rescuers recovered four bodies after 10 bodies were pulled earlier from the wreckage and six injured people were rescued and taken to hospital, Salam said. There were casualties in the tin-roof shanties, he said. Army troops joined the rescue work.

“We see more people crushed under the debris,” Salam told The Associated Press from the site of the accident in Dhaka’s central Tejgaon district. “So the death toll is likely to go up.”

Salam said the four-story building was built on what was once a canal and the owner had been adding another story to it. Local media reported the owner had not sought permission from the city development authorities to add the new story. They cited officials from the Capital Development Authority, which oversees building construction in Dhaka.

Another fire official, Ataur Rahman, said it was not known how many people were inside the building at the time of the accident.

The Cabinet minister in charge of overseeing local governments, Jahangir Kabir Nanak, said the government ordered an investigation into the collapse.

Dhaka is a teeming city of more than 10 million people, and its many of the buildings are constructed without proper design and with poor materials.