Dhaka Old building collapses, several feared trapped,Bangladesh

BANGLADESH NEWS

Several construction workers are feared trapped inside the five-storey building, which collapsed on two nearby buildings in the old part of Dhaka while being demolished Tuesday morning.

Firefighters started rescue operation in search of survivals around 2:15pm, if there was any, said Monir Hossain, assistant director of Fire Service and Civil Defence Department.

Earlier, police and firefighters rescued at least 50 residents trapped inside one of the two three-storey buildings on which the old building collapsed.

The residents suffered minor injuries while being evacuated, witnesses said.

The top floor of building No.14/A at Kailash Bose Lane collapsed on house No. 18 and 19 when workers started demolition work around 8:30am, said Md Ali, duty officer of the fire service.

The first two floors and the top floor of the building collapsed while the middle floors tilted on the two nearby buildings, fire service sources said.

As the entrance of building No. 18 was blocked by the debris following the collapse, firefighters had to remove those to rescue the trapped people, said Nokul Dhar, a resident of the house.

Nokul said they thought it was earthquake after hearing a big bang following the collapse.

The southern unit of the building collapsed as it became imbalanced following demolition of northern unit, Monir Hossain said.

The owner of the house that collapsed had vacated the flats in June as he decided to build a new structure after demolishing the old one.