At about 4:50pm on Tuesday, the seven-storey building in the capital's Gulistan area shook from a loud explosion. The building immediately reduced to rubble.
A few nearby buildings were damaged by the blast. However, the law enforcement agencies could not tell anything about the cause of the explosion yet.
It is suspected that the explosion might have been caused from the accumulated gas. However, the possibility of sabotage is also not ruled out. Law enforcement officials said that the real reason could be determined after the investigation.
Narrating the incident of the explosion, a young man named Shariful told Bangla Tribune: “Due to the explosion, the glass of that building fell inside the building next to us. The signboards of that building flew and fell in front of us on the road.”
Tarek, an employee of a shop in another building, said: “When the injured people were taken out, I saw that many of them had no limbs while many people's faces became unrecognizable.”
Immediately after hearing the news of the explosion, people gathered in front of the building. This effected the fire service to conduct the rescue operation. Although the law and order forces removed the crowd from the spot, they again returned and thronged the place.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Khandker Golam Faruq went to Dhaka Medical College Hospital after visiting the spot to see the injured.
He said that investigation is going on to find if the explosion in the building in the capital's Gulistan area was an accident or sabotage.
At least 17 people, including two women, were killed and more than 100 were injured in an explosion at a six-storey building near a BRTC bus counter in the capital's Gulistan on Tuesday afternoon, with the death toll likely to increase.
