Explosions and fireballs: A terrible fire left at least 70 people dead in the capital of Bangladesh

A district of the old city of Dhaka was devoured by the flames. At least 70 people are dead the burning of several buildings in the Bangladeshi capital, some of which have also served as chemical and plastic deposits.

Dozens of people were trapped in the buildings, unable to escape by the Streets obstructed by traffic, as and when they ignite these warehouses of highly flammable chemicals, aerosols and plastic pellets.

The last balance reported by firefighters and physicians represents at least 70 dead and 55 wounded, 10 of them in critical condition.

"The number of bodies can increase, research continues," said Bangladesh Fire Chief Ali Ahmed.

Due to traffic in this densely populated area and with pbadages just three meters wide, "people could not escape"said Ahmed.

Another fire officer told reporters that the fire had been "confined" but not extinguished, despite the efforts of more than 200 firefighters.

"That will take time." This is unlike any other fire, "he said, adding that it was so devastating because of the" highly combustible "chemicals stored there.

At the University Hospital of Dhaka, they entered 55 injuredof whom 18 were admitted to the burned area and 37 to the emergency ward.

According to the surgeon Partha Sankar, nine of the patients remaining in the burn zone are in critical condition with burns between 10% and 60% of your bodyso "none of them are out of danger".

The fire broke out Wednesday around 10:45 pm in a five-story building called Haji Wahed Mansion.

"The chemicals exploded on the top floor and the fireballs hit the street, I've seen corpses burn everywhere. I felt in a war zone, "he told the agency Efe Salahuddin in his bed at the Dhaka University Hospital.

His brother-in-law was unhurt, but he he suffered burns on different parts of his body, including the face, before the difficulties of escaping the labyrinthine quarter.

Haji Abdul Kader, whose store was destroyed in the fire, said that he had survived because he had gone shopping at the pharmacy.

"When I was at the pharmacy, I heard a big bang. I saw the whole street on fire, full of cars and rickshaws.. The flames were everywhere, "he told the AFP news agency.

"I burned myself and ran to the hospital," he said.

A similar fire that occurred in 2010 in an old building in the Bangladeshi capital, which also served as a chemical warehouse, killed more than 120 people in one of the worst fires in Dhaka.