DHAKA, Mar 7: At least 15 people were killed and over 100 others injured on March 7 in a powerful explosion at a seven-storey building here in Bangladesh’s capital, police said.
Eleven firefighting units have been mobilised at the spot after the blast, which occurred around 4:50 pm (local time) at Old Dhaka’s crowded Gulistan area, the fire service control room said.
“Fourteen bodies have been found (so far) but the toll could rise as the rescue operation is underway,” a fire service official told reporters.
The cause of the explosion could not be known immediately, but local residents suspected chemicals illegally stored inside the building, mostly used as an office and business complex, might have sparked the blast.
“At first, I thought it was an earthquake. The entire Siddik Bazar area was shaken by the blast,” eyewitness Safayet Hossain, a local shopkeeper, told The Daily Star newspaper.
“I saw 20-25 people lying in the road in front of a damaged building. They were seriously injured and bleeding. They were crying out for help. Some people were running around in panic,” he said.
He added that the locals were carrying the injured in vans and rickshaws to the hospital.
Alamgir, who was close to the blast site, said, “After the loud noise, people quickly came out of the building. There was panic on everyone’s faces. The glass of the building’s windows shattered and fell onto the street. Many pedestrians on the street were injured.” The Rapid Action Battalion’s bomb disposal unit was rushed to the spot to inspect the buildings.
Dozens of injured were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said DMCH police outpost j+spector Bacchu Miah. He added that all of them were receiving treatment at the hospital’s emergency unit.
The building has several stores for sanitary products on the bottom floor and a branch of BRAC Bank was located in the building adjacent to it.
The blast shattered the glass walls of the bank and also damaged a bus standing on the opposite side of the road, reports said. (Agencies)
