Photos: Deadly Dhaka fire shows lapses in development

By HT Correspondent

Updated On Feb 24, 2019 03:24 pm IST

After several instances of fires in the country’s capital city Dhaka, a massive fire that engulfed the old part of the city on Wednesday points to lapses in public safety which continue to plague Bangladesh. Government regulations are routinely flouted in Chawkbazar, one of the city’s many warren-like southern districts, which prevented firefighters from dousing the fire quickly. The region, which receives a big footfall during Eid, has borne the brunt of haphazard growth and increasing population.

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Flames rise from a fire in a densely packed shopping area in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Wednesday. The fire that killed at least 67 people in the oldest part of the Bangladeshi capital shows the lapses in public safety that still plague the South Asian country despite its rapid economic growth. (Zabed Hasnain Chowdhury / AP)

Updated on Feb 24, 2019 03:24 pm IST

Flames rise from a fire in a densely packed shopping area in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Wednesday. The fire that killed at least 67 people in the oldest part of the Bangladeshi capital shows the lapses in public safety that still plague the South Asian country despite its rapid economic growth. (Zabed Hasnain Chowdhury / AP)

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Rescuers stand at the site of the fire. The fire started in one building where chemicals for deodorants and other household uses were illegally stored and spread at lightning speed to four nearby buildings. (Mahmud Hossain Opu / AP)

Updated on Feb 24, 2019 03:24 pm IST

Rescuers stand at the site of the fire. The fire started in one building where chemicals for deodorants and other household uses were illegally stored and spread at lightning speed to four nearby buildings. (Mahmud Hossain Opu / AP)

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People gather around the wreckage of gutted cars. While the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina touts the garment factories and gleaming office towers in Dhaka’s north side as signs of progress, illegal shops and overcrowding in Chawkbazar, one of the city’s many warren-like southern districts, impeded firefighters’ ability to put out the fire. (Munir Uz Zaman / AFP)

Updated on Feb 24, 2019 03:24 pm IST

People gather around the wreckage of gutted cars. While the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina touts the garment factories and gleaming office towers in Dhaka’s north side as signs of progress, illegal shops and overcrowding in Chawkbazar, one of the city’s many warren-like southern districts, impeded firefighters’ ability to put out the fire. (Munir Uz Zaman / AFP)

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Burnt household furniture following the fire. The government has zoning laws and regulations on the books, but has met public resistance when it tried to enforce them, Bangladesh planning experts said Thursday. Business owners in old Dhaka routinely bribe government employees responsible for building oversight, they said. (Munir Uz Zaman / AFP)

Updated on Feb 24, 2019 03:24 pm IST

Burnt household furniture following the fire. The government has zoning laws and regulations on the books, but has met public resistance when it tried to enforce them, Bangladesh planning experts said Thursday. Business owners in old Dhaka routinely bribe government employees responsible for building oversight, they said. (Munir Uz Zaman / AFP)

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Locals help a Bangladeshi firefighter who lost consciousness while trying to douse flames of the smoldering fire. After a warehouse storing flammable material caught fire in 2010 in Nimtoli, a district near Chawkbazar, killing at least 123 people, authorities promised to bring the area into compliance with building codes, and evict chemical warehouses from buildings where people lived. (AP)

Updated on Feb 24, 2019 03:24 pm IST

Locals help a Bangladeshi firefighter who lost consciousness while trying to douse flames of the smoldering fire. After a warehouse storing flammable material caught fire in 2010 in Nimtoli, a district near Chawkbazar, killing at least 123 people, authorities promised to bring the area into compliance with building codes, and evict chemical warehouses from buildings where people lived. (AP)

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Relatives of victims mourn their loss. In 2014, three people were killed and three others severely burned when a perfume warehouse on the third floor of a building in Chawkbazar caught fire. The following year, a fire gutted eight plastic factories. (Munir Uz Zaman / AFP)

Updated on Feb 24, 2019 03:24 pm IST

Relatives of victims mourn their loss. In 2014, three people were killed and three others severely burned when a perfume warehouse on the third floor of a building in Chawkbazar caught fire. The following year, a fire gutted eight plastic factories. (Munir Uz Zaman / AFP)

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People carry coffins of relatives out from a morgue. The contrast between new and old Dhaka - the city’s north and south sides - is stark, said Shafiq-Ur Rahman, an urban planning professor at Jahangirnagar University in Dhaka. “As the area was developed continuously, there is very high population density and haphazard growth,” he said. (Mahmud Hossain Opu / AP)

Updated on Feb 24, 2019 03:24 pm IST

People carry coffins of relatives out from a morgue. The contrast between new and old Dhaka - the city’s north and south sides - is stark, said Shafiq-Ur Rahman, an urban planning professor at Jahangirnagar University in Dhaka. “As the area was developed continuously, there is very high population density and haphazard growth,” he said. (Mahmud Hossain Opu / AP)

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People pray for the victims of the fire. The fire was about 500 metre away from Dhaka’s 18th-century Central Jail, a former Mughal fort where ex-Prime Minister and opposition leader Khaleda Zia has been held since February last year on corruption charges. Since 2016, the jail has only been used to hold opposition figures, and Zia is currently the only inmate. It was not threatened by the fire. (Munir Uz Zaman / AFP)

Updated on Feb 24, 2019 03:24 pm IST

People pray for the victims of the fire. The fire was about 500 metre away from Dhaka’s 18th-century Central Jail, a former Mughal fort where ex-Prime Minister and opposition leader Khaleda Zia has been held since February last year on corruption charges. Since 2016, the jail has only been used to hold opposition figures, and Zia is currently the only inmate. It was not threatened by the fire. (Munir Uz Zaman / AFP)

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