Woman dies in Mohakhali high-rise fire

A woman has fallen to her death in her desperation to escape a fire at a high-rise in Dhaka’s Mohakhali by using a cable.

Several others were injured as they tried to get away from the fire or by falling glasses at the 14-storey Khawaja Tower on Thursday afternoon. Some fell sick after inhaling smoke.

Md Ariful, a receptionist at Metropolitan Hospital in the area, said the woman was brought dead to the private facility. She could not be identified immediately.

Local shopkeeper Paban Saha, who saw the woman falling, said several people tried to get off the building by using a cable about 5:30pm, around half an hour after the fire broke out on the 12th floor of the building.

One of them, a woman in a burqa, fell on the outdoor unit of an air-conditioner and then on the ground, he said.

An onlooker tried to hold the falling woman but both were injured in the process and then rushed to the hospital.

The building houses banks, IT firms and other private companies.

Earth Telecom and Race Online have their offices and server rooms on the eighth and ninth floors of the building. Race Online is a venture of Earth Telecom.

An employee of the company said they heard one of their female colleagues fell while trying to get off through a back window.

Anisur Rahman, an official of Universal Medical College Hospital in Mohakhali, said two victims of the fire were brought to the hospital.

One of them suffered burns on a hand and the other broke a leg.

Shahjahan Shikder, a Fire Service and Civil Defence officer, said 11 units of firefighters rushed to the scene after being informed about the incident.

They rescued five people from the building.

The authorities blocked Bir Uttom AK Khandaker Road from Mohakhali’s Amtoli to Gulshan after the incident.