From jumping out of windows to scaling down buildings, Dhaka people tried to save themselves from huge fire

At least 19 people have died and many others were trapped and injured after a major fire broke out in a high-rise building in Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital. Dramatic footage from the scene, where flames engulfed the ninth and tenth floors of a 22-storey building, showed people trying to climb down cables between air conditioning units. Local media reported that at least six people had tried to jump to escape the flames.

Police confirmed the rise in death toll and said 70 others had been injured. The afire broke out shortly after midday on Thursday in the FR Tower, an office building on a busy street in the capital’s Banani business district.

An intense operation to tackle the blaze lasted several hours and included at least 20 fire crews as well as the military, which supplied helicopters to dump water on the tower from one of the city’s lakes.  

In the early evening, fire service deputy director Debashish Bardhan said “the situation is under control”, and that while the operation continued most of those trapped on the upper floors without an escape route had been rescued. 

At the height of the blaze, witness Sajib Hasan said people were seen shouting for help from windows on the upper floors of the building. Thick plumes of smoke impaired the efforts of firefighters, but Mr Hasan said he watched at least a dozen people get rescued by hydraulic cranes. 

A Facebook Live video taken by Roy Pinaki showed five people scaling down from windows while building materials fell around them. One person slipped from what appeared to be a rope that people were using to escape, bounced off utility wires and fell to the ground.