Big blaze at BRDB Bhaban in city

The Bangladesh Rural Development Board Bhaban went up in flames yesterday burning into ashes the storeroom in its basement in capital’s Karwan Bazar.
Seven fire fighting units rushed to the spot and managed to douse the fire two hours after the incident around 4:00pm.
The firemen also rescued three people who were trapped on the rooftop of the seven-storied building.
Curly smokes were seen emerging out from different floors of the building during the blaze.
Meanwhile, the LGRD Ministry formed a five-member committee led by Abdul Mannan, joint secretary of the ministry, to ascertain the damage and find out the cause of the fire incident.
When asked, BRDB Director General Mohammad Humayun Khalid said that his organisation is not well equipped with fire fighting equipment saying, “It is true that in this regard there were lapses on our part.”
AKM Ayub Ali, a BRDB official who was trapped on the rooftop of his office building told The New Nation that he saw several people trapped on different floors while he was descending from the rooftop with the help of firemen.
Fire fighters evacuated six people from the rooftop. Other people, who were stranded on other floors, were also evacuated by external ladder.
The fire ensued around 2:10pm from the basement, housing a warehouse of the BRDB, which engulfed Karupalli, an outlet of government-run handicraft project, on the ground floor of the Bhaban.
Mohammad Hafiz Uddin, another staff of the BRDB, told The New Nation that though the basement was meant for car parking, it was used as warehouse and parking place for vehicles not in use.
Around 25 vehicles, along with six new vehicles were damaged in the fire, another source said. The reason of the fire could not be ascertained immediately.
State minister for local government Jahangir Kabir Nanak visited the place of accident.
Meanwhile, Motijheel police sub-inspector Nazmul Hasan said a fire broke out at the head office of National Credit and Commerce Bank almost at the same time.