At least 19 people killed, say officials, including six who jumped from 22-floor building

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Desperate workers have jumped to their deaths as a huge fire tore through a Dhaka office block, killing at least 19 people and trapping others in the latest major inferno to hit the Bangladesh capital.

Rescue workers warned the death toll could rise sharply as fire fighters recovered charred bodies from the complex where an unknown number of office workers were engulfed by intense smoke and flames.

At least six people died after leaping from the 22-floor building while another appeared to have suffered fatal burns, officials said. Emergency services said at least 65 people were being treated in hospitals. There was no official word on how many people could be trapped inside.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Firefighters work to extinguish the fire at the Dhaka office block. Photograph: Monirul Alam/EPA

The fire ignited just after noon on Thursday and spread quickly throughout the building in the upmarket Banani commercial district. People could be seen screaming for help as hundreds of panicked onlookers crowded the streets below.

Some workers slid down a television cable on the side of the building. Others grabbed ropes lowered by emergency service helicopters which pulled them out of the blaze. More than 100 ambulances were parked in the streets around the building amid fears the death toll could steeply rise.

A video posted on Facebook from inside the block showed an office shrouded in smoke with workers holding cloths to their mouths. “Please send a ladder as soon as possible or we will all choke from this smoke,” a woman’s voice said in the footage.

The fire is the second major deadly blaze this year in the city, the most densely populated in the world and one where building regulations are notoriously lax. At least 70 people died and 50 were injured in a fire in Dhaka’s old quarter on 21 February.

Shoikot Rahman heard colleagues raise the alarm and ran to safety before smoke and flames engulfed the building.

“When I heard a fire broke out in the building, I quickly rushed out,” he told Agence France-Presse. “Many of my colleagues are still trapped in the office.”

Firefighters on long ladders smashed windows to create escape routes. More than one hour after the blaze erupted people could still be seen on the 13th and 14th floors desperately waving for help amid clouds of black smoke.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A survivor reacts after being rescued by firefighters from the burning office building. Photograph: Munir Uz Zaman/AFP/Getty Images

Army helicopters dangled ropes that victims grabbed so they could be lifted to safety, with crowds below cheering and applauding every time someone was rescued.

Three hospitals reported that six men and women had died or arrived with fatal injuries after jumping from the office block. They included a Sri Lankan man whose body was taken to the army’s Kurmitola hospital.

Dilkhosh Ahmed at the Banani Clinic said one of the victims had attempted to use the television cable to climb down, but slipped and fell around the eighth floor. A seventh death from burns was recorded at the Dhaka Medical College hospital.

Helicopters were deployed to drop water on the blaze as scores of firefighters backed by navy and air force specialists struggled to bring it under control.

A senior fire official said the flames had been stopped from spreading to adjoining buildings.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A helicopter carries water to drop on the burning office building. Photograph: Munir Uz Zaman/AFP/Getty Images

“Teams have entered the building and they are scouring the floors for any remaining victims. The building did not have fire-fighting equipment,” Lieutenant Colonel Julfikar Rahman of the Dhaka fire service told reporters.

Some workers told of risky escapes. “My uncle and two more people jumped from their floor. His hand and leg are broken and his eye is damaged,” one man said without giving his name.

A man who gave his name as Jico said he had been working on the 19th floor. “The fire started in a restaurant on the sixth floor. We ran to the roof as soon as we heard about it and then used a wooden plank to get over to the next building.”

The February fire was started when chemicals illegally stored in an apartment building exploded and set alight five buildings and nearby streets. That blaze took more than 12 hours to control.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Large crowds of onlookers watch as firefighters struggle to bring the fire under control. Photograph: Monirul Alam/EPA

A June 2010 fire in the nearby neighbourhood of Nimtoli, one of the most densely populated districts of the capital, killed 123 people.

In November 2012, a fire swept through a nine-story garment factory near Dhaka killing 111 workers. An investigation found it was caused by sabotage and that managers at the plant had prevented victims from escaping.

Experts said inspections of buildings in the city frequently found fire exit stairs blocked with stored goods and exit doors locked.