By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
DHAKA (Worthy News) – At least 43 people were killed late Thursday after a fire broke out in a six-story building in Bangladesh, the country’s health minister said about the latest tragedy to hit the troubled South Asian nation.
The blaze began in a restaurant at around 22:00 local time on Thursday in the capital, Dhaka, and quickly spread to other floors, witnesses said.
Besides those killed, at least 22 people were injured and rushed to hospitals with burn wounds, Health Minister Samanta Lal Sen told reporters after visiting the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
It was not immediately clear what caused the blaze, which was under control after two hours of frantic efforts by 13 firefighting units, the fire service officials said.
Survivor Mohammad Altaf, speaking to reporters, recounted narrowly escaping the blaze through a broken window. Two of his coworkers perished, he said.
“We were on the sixth floor when we first saw smoke racing through the staircase,” said a restaurant manager called Sohel. “A lot of people rushed upstairs. We used a water pipe to climb down the building. Some of us were injured as they jumped from upstairs,” Sohel told media.
DOZENS KILLED
Bangladesh’s Health Minister, Samanta Lal Sen, said that at least 33 people, including women and children, were declared dead at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
At least 10 others died at the city’s main burns hospital. Dozens more people have been sent there for treatment, Sen added.
The complex that the building is in also contains other restaurants, as well as several clothing and mobile phone shops.
Thursday’s blaze underscored broader concerns about fire hazards in impoverished Bangladesh in part due to what experts say are inadequate building codes, regulations, and poor safety awareness.
As in Thursday’s case, deadly fires often break out in businesses.
More than 2,000 workers and other staff reportedly died in dozens of blazes in factories alone over the past two decades, besides the many killed in other buildings.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
The Trump administration has finalized a sweeping reciprocal trade agreement with Taiwan, confirming a 15 percent U.S. tariff rate on Taiwanese imports while securing broad new market access and purchase commitments for American goods.
Democrats are applauding White House border czar Tom Homan’s Thursday announcement that immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota will end next week.
Democrats in the U.S. Senate tanked the Homeland Security full-year funding bill in a last-ditch vote Thursday, all but guaranteeing a partial government shutdown starting Saturday.
Mourners in a remote Canadian town grappled Thursday with the aftermath of one of the country’s deadliest school shootings in decades, as families, survivors and leaders reacted to the tragedy that left eight victims — most of them children — dead, along with the 18-year-old suspect.
A gunman who opened fire at a school in southern Thailand’s Hat Yai city on Wednesday wounded a teacher and a student before being detained, authorities said, in a rare attack that sent students and staff into panic.
The Republican-led House of Representatives has passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, advancing legislation that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo identification at the polls. The bill now heads to the Senate, where its future remains uncertain amid strong Democratic opposition.
Israel’s Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday that its advanced David’s Sling air and missile defense system has completed a series of complex modernized tests, a development officials say bolsters the country’s defensive posture as tensions with Iran escalate and the United States prepares military options that could include direct strikes.