At least 16 people, including two women, were killed and more than 100 were injured in an explosion at a seven-storey building near a BRTC bus counter in the capital's Gulistan on Tuesday afternoon, with the death toll likely to increase.
Eleven firefighting units were at the scene, but they had to halt their rescue efforts in the evening as one of the affected buildings had developed cracks.
The Rapid Action Battalion's bomb disposal unit was also heading to the spot to inspect the buildings.
Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka TribuneOfficials said the explosion happened in the Alubazar area of Fulbaria in the capital.
Twenty of the injured were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said DMCH police outpost Inspector Bacchu Miah, adding that all of them were receiving treatment at the hospital's emergency unit.
The cause of the explosion could not be known immediately.
The police believe it was an accident not a case of sabotage but said they will investigate that possibility.
Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka TribunePeople willing to donate blood for the injured have been asked to go to DMCH.
The blast affected two buildings near the BRTC bus counter: the six-storey building and another four-storey sanitary market, which houses a branch of Brac Bank.
Witnesses said many people are feared trapped in the basements of the buildings.