Dhaka: A devastating fire raced through several apartment complexes in the Bangladeshi capital, killing more than 100 people and injuring just as many, local media reported Friday.
Fire official Nazrul Islam said the blaze started when an electric transformer exploded late Thursday, igniting a three-story apartment building in the Najirabazar area of old Dhaka. He said the blaze then spread to other buildings where 87 charred bodies were later recovered.
He said some injured people might have died later on the way to hospital or while there, but would not give an exact figure.
Citing officials at the scene and hospital doctors,
ATN Bangla television station reported that at least 104 people had died, and that more than 100 others were injured.
"It has caused a huge devastation," Islam said.
He said the firefighters had the blaze under control and the rescue operation was continuing on Friday morning.
He said the victims included many guests of a wedding party on the roof of a building.
Bangla Vision TV station quoted unnamed fire officials as saying the fire spread to at least 20 apartment complexes.
TV footage showed firefighters and residents carrying injured by tricycle rickshaws to hospitals while many relatives of the victims were wailing.
Bangla Vision said the rescue effort was being hampered since the area is crammed with buildings and roads are narrow.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed her shock at the incident and condolences to the families of the victims, and ordered authorities to provide all medical support to the injured.
Authorities ordered an investigation.