High-rise building fire kills 19 in Bangladesh

At least 19 people including a Sri Lankan man were killed and scores of others injured as a massive fire engulfed a high-rise building in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka on Thursday, a fire department official said.

Mahfuz Riven, a duty officer of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, told Xinhua that "the fire that originated at about 1:00 p.m. local time Thursday killed 19 people."

It was not clear how many people were inside the building when it caught fire. The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

According to the fire service official, dozens of units of firefighters brought the fire under control at around 6:00 p.m. local time, but they were still working to extinguish burning materials.

The death toll is feared to rise as the rescue operation has not finished yet.

The majority of deaths resulted from smoke inhalation and injuries sustained after falling from upper floors, Forman Ali, officer-in-charge of Banani Police Station, told reporters.

The Sri Lankan man sustained serious injuries as he jumped off the building to escape the fire and died before he was rushed to the hospital.

The fire started on its seventh floor of the 22-storey FR Tower housing offices, TV and radio stations and restaurants at around 1:00 p.m. local time.

Some 100 people were rushed to different city hospitals with injuries.

A Fire Service official said they managed to rescue dozens of people trapped in the building's upper floors.

The latest tragedy has been the second deadly fire to strike Dhaka this year after a blaze ripped through several buildings in old Dhaka, killing at least 81 people on Feb. 21.