At least 69 people were killed in Dhaka on Wednesday night in a huge fire that charged buildings with stores of flammable chemicals, Bangladesh authorities said.
"The death toll is high and the search is continuing," National Fire Chief Ali Ahmed told AFP.
He added that the fire that broke out in the district of "Shawk Bazar" in the old Dhaka was probably caused by a gas cylinder was spread quickly in the building because of the inflammable materials stored in it.
The head of the fire department that the flames quickly spread to four adjacent buildings, also used to store chemicals flammable.
"There was a traffic jam when the fire broke out, so people could not escape," he said, "especially as the streets are very narrow in this part of the capital and the buildings are stuck together.
"Among the victims are pedestrians and people who were eating at nearby restaurants or taking part in a wedding," said deputy police chief Ibrahim Khan.
According to local television channels, the gate of a building was closed with a lock, preventing its occupants from escaping from the flames.
"I heard a big explosion," said Haji Abdul Qadir, a merchant who had consumed his shop when he was in a neighboring pharmacy buying medicine, but was wounded by the fire. "I saw the fire engulfing the entire street, which was packed with cars and rickshaws."
According to a fire department official, the fire, which broke out around 22:40 (1640 GMT), was brought under control on Thursday morning but has not been extinguished yet, although more than 200 firefighters are working to extinguish it.
"This is not a similar fire to any other fire," the official said, adding that the difficulty in extinguishing the fire was caused by "flammable" chemicals stored there.
An official at Dhaka Medical College Hospital said the fire also injured at least 45 people, including four critically ill.
In 2010, a fire broke out in an old building in Dhaka that was also used to store chemicals, killing more than 120 people, in one of the worst fire tragedies in the Bangladeshi capital.
