At least 15 persons died and more than 100 were injured in an explosion in a building in Dhaka on Tuesday, The Daily Star reported.
The five-storey building is located in a crowded market in the city’s Gulistan area. The blast took place around 4.45 pm local time (4.15 pm according to Indian Standard Time) near a bus stop of the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation, according to The Dhaka Tribune.
An adjoining seven-storey building was also damaged in the blast.
Visuals from the site showed walls of one of the buildings reduced to rubble.
Eleven firefighting teams are carrying out rescue operations at the site, Rashed Bin Khaled, duty officer of the fire service control room, said.
Twenty injured persons were taken to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Police Inspector Bacchu Miah said. All of them were receiving treatment at the emergency unit, he said.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Khandker Golam Faruq said that the blast appeared to have been an accident, according to The Daily Star.
“Primarily we are suspecting that it is an accident,” he said. “Different units are working to find out whether it was sabotage. So far, no evidence of sabotage was found at the spot till now.”
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