Fire at Bashundhara mall again

Fortunately because of the rain few shops had opened and customers were sparse when the fire erupted on level 6 of the mall around 11:23am, but even so a number of people were trapped in the building for ten-and-a-half hours while the fire raged. Fire Service and Civil Defence Director General Ali Ahmed Khan at a press briefing at 9pm yesterday announced that the fire had been doused at 8:50pm. Over 150 firefighters with 28 firefighting units worked to douse the flames. The building’s own firefighters worked alongside them. Nineteen people were recovered from the roof and various floors during the operation. One has been sent to hospital, Ali Ahmed Khan said. The reason and estimate of losses could not be ascertained immediately. The fire’s origin also remains to be identified. Fire Service has formed a five member committee to find out the cause of the fire within seven days, the DG said. Ali Ahmed said controlling the fire took some time because some shops were sealed by molten glass, aluminum and steel and had to be broken into. Basundhara City in-charge TIM Latiful Hossain said seven to eight shops in the C-block on level-6 were completely damaged and around 100 shops affected by the fire. Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Annisul Huq visited the spot to monitor the situation in the afternoon and said he would sit with owners to find out why fires were so frequent at the mall. Our Dhaka Medical College Hospital Correspondent informed that a firefighter of Bashundhara group named Al Mamun had been admitted there in the afternoon. Din Mohammad, owner of mobile shop Phone Land, said: “The fire originated from a shoe shop in Block C of sixth floor around 11:30am. We thought it would be brought under control but later the fire rangers of Banshundhara City made an announcement and asked us to evacuate the mall. Mizanur Rahman, a security guard of the sixth floor, told the Dhaka Tribune that when the fire caught, he immediately rushed to the shop named ‘MS Shoe’ and found that the shop workers had already shut it down and left. He along with other security guards and the mall’s fire rangers started working to douse the fire but failed to take it under control. The smoke was so dense they could not stand near the shop, the guard said. However, another security guard and president of shop owners association claimed the fire broke out from a shop named ‘Khandekar Shoe’. On March 13, 2009, at least seven people were killed and 20 others injured in the raging blaze that broke out at the capital’s Bashundhara City complex.