A fire broke out at a 12-storey building at Babu Bazar in Keraniganj early Saturday. Two more units joined the work for dousing the fire after the Fire Service and Civil Defence failed to bring the fire under control despite four hours of efforts.
Fourteen firefighting units are working to bring the blaze under control.
Besides, firefighters rescued at least 42 persons among the people trapped inside the bulding and brought them to safety using various stairways. The fire service personnel brought them down from the building safely using different ladders on Saturday (December 13) morning.
Anwarul Islam, Warehouse Inspector of the Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD), said the fire started around 5:37am on the ground floor of the building named 'Jabal-e-Noor Tower.'
It houses 40-50 garment shops and jhut (garment scrap) factories at the underground, ground and first floor. The building has been rented from second floor to 10th floor as residential flats. Some 5,000 people live at different floors of the building.
Army and BGB members have joined the rescue operation.
Lt Col Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury, director of FSCD (Operation and Maintenance), said the fire originated in the warehouse located on the ground floor.
Salam, an inhabitant of the second floor, said they woke up at about 5:00am sensing the heat of fire. Then they hurriedly came down. On the ground floor, he saw jhut sacks were burning at the jhut factories on the ground floor.
END/ASI
