Building tilts in Bangladesh, national mourning for blaze dead Saturday

DHAKA - A six-storeyed building dangerously tilted Friday in the Bangladesh capital where an overnight blaze claimed over 100 lives. National mourning would be observed Saturday for the fire victims, it was announced.

Fire Service and police personnel evacuated people from the tilting building at Begunbari in the city. No casualty was reported.

The tilt could be the result of “shoddy construction”, Star Online, website of The Daily Star, said.

The country will mourn Saturday the victims of Thursday night’s blaze, one of the worst fire tragedies the country has faced, with the toll being placed by the police at 114.

Special prayers will be held at mosques, temples, churches and Buddhist pagodas for the dead in the fire that gutted a building in the old part of the national capital.

Abdur Rashid, deputy director of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, confirmed the deaths of 93 people, while Mohibul Haque, deputy commissioner of Dhaka, put the toll at 114.

More than 200 survivors with severe burns were undergoing treatment at the capital’s two main hospitals, a hospital official said.

The rescuers called off the search for survivors Friday morning.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited the injured at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) in the morning and enquired about their treatment.

The government has extended financial and other logistics support for the burial of the victims and proper treatment of the injured.

The fire took place two days after at least 22 people were killed in a building collapse in the capital’s Tejgaon area.