DHAKA, Bangladesh — Fire raced through several apartment complexes in the Bangladeshi capital, killing more than 100 people and injuring just as many, local media reported today.
Fire official Nazrul Islam said the blaze started when an electric transformer exploded late Thursday, igniting a three-story apartment building in the Najirabazar area of old Dhaka. He said the blaze spread to other buildings where 87 charred bodies were later recovered.
He said some injured people might have died on the way to hospital or while there, but he would not give an exact figure.
Citing officials at the scene and hospital doctors, ATN Bangla television station reported that at least 104 people had died and that more than 100 others were injured.
“It has caused a huge devastation,” Islam said by phone.
He said the firefighters had the blaze under control and the rescue operation was continuing this morning.
Bangla Vision TV station quoted unnamed fire officials as saying the fire spread to at least 20 apartment complexes.
