Firefighters work to extinguish a fire in a commercial building that killed at least 43 people, in Dhaka, on 29 February 2024. Photo: AFP / MUNIR UZ ZAMAN
At least 43 people have been killed after a fire broke out in a multi-storey building in Bangladesh, the country's health minister says.
According to local media, the blaze began in a restaurant at about 10pm on Thursday (local time) in the capital, Dhaka.
It spread quickly through the building, trapping dozens of people.
Fire officials said the fire has now been bought under control. It is not clear what caused it.
Bangladesh's Health Minister, Samanta Lal Sen, said that at least 33 people, including women and children, were declared dead at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
At least 10 others died at the city's main burns hospital. Dozens more people have been sent there for treatment, Sen said.
The emergency services were called to the Kacchi Bhai Restaurant, which according to the Daily Bangladesh newspaper, has seven floors.
"We were at the sixth floor when we first saw smoke racing through the staircase," said a restaurant manager called Sohel, according to AFP. He was rescued safely.
"A lot of people rushed upstairs. We used a water pipe to climb down the building.
"Some of us were injured as they jumped from upstairs."
Another survivor, Mohammad Altaf, told Reuters that he narrowly escaped the blaze through a broken window.
He said two of his colleagues, who had helped to get people out, both later died.
This story was originally published by the BBC.