Two people were killed in a fire that broke out at a 14-storey residential building in the Katabon area of the capital early Saturday.
The deceased were identified as Abdus Salam, 20, and Johnny, 24.
The fire broke out on the 12th floor of Al Baraka Tower at around 1am and quickly spread to the 11th and 13th floors, trapping several occupants, authorities said.
Six units of the Fire Service and Civil Defence brought the blaze under control after nearly two hours, said Mohammad Ayub, officer-in-charge of New Market Police Station.
Firefighters rescued two critically injured men from inside the building and rushed them to hospital, where doctors declared both dead.
Their bodies have been kept at the morgue for autopsy, the OC said.
Preliminary information suggests that the floor where the fire originated housed the chambers of several lawyers.
The two victims reportedly made frantic phone calls seeking help after becoming trapped inside. Contact with them was lost shortly afterwards.
Abdus Salam, son of Selim Sarkar of Bara Bahadar village in Bogura’s Kahalu upazila, worked as a clerk to Abdullah Al Noman, a prosecutor at the International Crimes Tribunal.
He was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead.
Johnny worked as a clerk to Barrister Moazzem, son of former adviser Hasan Arif. He was taken to the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, where he was also declared dead.
The cause of the fire has yet to be determined. Authorities have launched an investigation into the incident.
