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At least 70 people have been killed and dozens were injured as a devastating fire ripped through buildings in a historic district of Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka.

The huge blaze took hold in the Chawkbazar area and tore through tightly-packed buildings separated by narrow alleyways as firefighters battled to bring it under control.

Many of the victims were trapped inside buildings, officials who confirmed a death toll of 70 said as fire crews continued their rescue mission amid the shocking scenes on Thursday.

The death toll could still rise as the condition of some of the injured people was critical, said Samanta Lal Sen, head of a burn unit at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Witnesses told local TV stations that many gas cylinders stored in the buildings continued to explode one after another. They said the fire also set off explosions in fuel tanks of some of the vehicles that got stuck in traffic in front of the destroyed buildings.

"Our teams are working there but many of the recovered bodies are beyond recognition. Our people are using body bags to send them to the hospital morgue, this is a very difficult situation," said Mahfuz Riben, a control room official of the Fire Service and Civil Defense in Dhaka.

About 50 people were injured and the fire was mostly under control after more than nine hours of frantic efforts by firefighters since it broke out on Wednesday.

Some floors of the destroyed buildings had chemicals and plastic in storage inside, according to local reports.

Most buildings are used both for residential and commercial purposes despite warnings of the potential for high fatalities from fires after one had killed at least 123 people in 2010.

Authorities had promised to bring the buildings under regulations and remove chemical warehouses from the residential buildings.