18 killed in Bangladesh building explosion

At least 18 people were killed and 200 others injured in an explosion in a seven-storey building in Bangladesh capital Dhaka on Tuesday afternoon, reported New Age, a leading English language newspaper published from Dhaka.

Of the deceased people, 16 are males and two are females. The reason behind the explosion could not be known immediately.

Officials at Dhaka Medical College Hospital where most of the injured people were brought said that over 80 patients were admitted to the hospital and over 20 of them were critically injured.

Witnesses said that the explosion occurred on the ground floor of a market cum residential building, known as Queen Market, at about 4:50pm. The explosion shook the nearby areas.

Fire service rescue team leader Colonel Tazul Islam Chowdhury suspected that there might be bodies under the debris as the rescuers couldn’t reach every corners of the building until filing the report at about 11:00pm.

Fire service officials said that the building became risky due to the explosion and they couldn’t remove any rubble from the hole of the building.

The news of the explosion came after two deadly explosions in Dhaka and Chattogram earlier this week.