Watchman alerted residents of building fire in Dhaka’s Armanitola. Rescuers found him dead

Hena Islam and his family, residents of Haji Musa Mansion in Old Dhaka’s Armanitola, were preparing for the Sehri very early on Friday morning.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang and a man began shouting. When they opened the door, it was dark with smoke and there were sparks of fire on the staircases.

The family survived the fire by breaking open the window grill of the fourth floor flat and moving to the adjacent building by using a ladder provided by the neighbours who came to their rescue.

Jasmine Akter, the resident of a second floor flat, said she and her husband woke up as their children began crying but they had no idea what was happening.

Finally someone knocked the door and when Jasmine opened the door, she saw the smoke and fire. The family got out through the broken grill of their balcony by using clothes as rope.

But 30-year-old “Russell”, the building’s security guard who alerted the residents by frantically pushing the doorbells and shouting, was later found dead on the first floor.

“It would have been very late to realise the situation had Rasel not alerted us,” said Hena, her voice dripping with sympathy for their saviour.

Russell lived in a room on the rooftop of the six-storey building with his nephew Oliullah, a day labourer, and another security guard Shahidul Islam.

The rescuers found the bodies of Oliullah and Shahidul on the fourth floor after the firefighters doused the fire three hours after it had erupted.

The other victim, Sumaiya Akter, was studying English literature at Eden College.

Shahin Fakir, OC of Bangshal Police Station, said the members of Sumaiya’s family moved to a nearby building through the broken window grill of the third floor flat, but she fell unconscious.

Doctors at Mitford Hospital declared her dead after she was rescued and rushed to the hospital.  

The ground floor and first floor of Musa Mansion with the holding number 9/1 on Armenia Street were being used as chemical warehouses.

Hena said she had no knowledge of the warehouses’ existence.   

It took 19 units of the Fire Service and Civil Defence to extinguish the fire and rescue the residents by cutting grills or from the roof. The fire came under control around 6am.

Firefighters trying to douse a fire that killed at least four people at a chemical warehouse in Old Dhaka's Armanitola on Friday, Apr 23, 2021.

Md Shahidul Islam, the deputy commissioner of Dhaka, later visited the building and sealed off the chemical warehouses.

The Fire Service has formed a four-strong committee to investigate how the fire originated.

The committee will submit a report within 15 days, said Niaz Ahmed, an assistant director with the Fire Service.