The 22-storey FR Tower at Banani in Dhaka was built with inadequate spaces and narrow stairs violating the country's rules and regulations.
The National Building Code (NBC) and the Building Construction Rules (BCR)-2016 were not followed during the construction of the high-rise building at the heart of the city, according to the officials concerned.
At least 16 persons, including a Sri Lankan citizen, were killed and more than 100 others injured in a fire that broke out at the FR Tower of Banani, a commercial hub in Dhaka, on Thursday afternoon.
After the incident, the Disaster Management and Relief Ministry formed a nine-member probe body to investigate the reasons behind the incident and find out the course of
actions to avert such incidents in future.
Ministry's Additional Secretary Faizur Rahman will head the body, Ministry's Senior Secretary Md. Shah Kamal told this correspondent last night after the incident.
Several ministers and senior high officials visited the spot after the incident and oversaw the rescue operation of fire fighters and rescuers who were trying to save people from the devastating fire.
According to witnesses, so far 41 victims were admitted to different hospitals. However, their conditions are not serious. Most of them were suffering from breathing complications as they inhaled smoke.
Meanwhile, a burnt victim has been referred to burn unit of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital.
Bangladesh Planners Association's Joint Secretary Mazhar Islam, a witness of the incident, told this correspondent last night that he had seen several people jump off the building to survive.
As there was inadequate spaces to come out and narrower stairs in the building, most of the victims were afraid of massive disaster. In this situation, most of them tried to come out and survive by jumping off the building.
"Most of the victims died due to jumping off the building. If there was adequate space or wider stairs, they could come out easily. It could have saved more lives," he added.
The urban planner also claimed the building was not constructed following the national building code and building construction rules.
There was no system of fire fighting. The authority didn't take clearance certificate from the fire service authority.
"If they got the building examined after the completion of the construction, they must not have obtained clearance certificate due to its faulty design," he said.
The Rajdhani Unnayan Katripakkha (RAJUK) is also responsible for the faulty construction, he added.
He suggested the authorities concerned ensure implement of the building code and building construction rules to avert such incidents in future.
He also suggested the fire service authority to boost up its fire fighting capacity and procure more modernised firefighting equipment.
When contacted, Disaster Management and Relief Ministry's Senior Secretary Md. Shah Kamal told this correspondent that they had found defects in the building and its stairs.
"We have found that the stairs of the 22-story buildings was narrow. It was only 36-inches wider. How the stairs of such a high-rise building can be so narrow. We are looking into the matter," he said.
A nine-member probe body was formed by the ministry to investigate the incident, he said.
Ministry's Additional Secretary Faizur Rahman will head the body and submit its report within 7-working days.
The committee will include representatives from Fire Service, Dhaka North City Corporation, Armed Forces Division, Housing and Public Works Ministry, Police and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).
A Director of the Department of Disaster Management (DDM) will act as member secretary of the committee.
He also claimed that Rajdhani Unnyan Katripakkha (RAJUK) is also responsible for the incident as the building was constructed with faulty design. RAJUK didn't discharge its responsibility properly.
When contacted, RAJUK Chairman Abdur Rahman also admitted about the faulty design and deviation of buildings code and building construction rules in construction of the building.
"The authority took a design approval in 1996 to construct an 18-storey building. In 2005, they further applied to RAJUK to allow them to construct a 23-storey building."
But, the authority hadn't allowed them. During an inspection in 2007, the authority found deviation in the buildings," he said adding that they, however, didn't take any actions against the deviations after the inspection.
Meanwhile, RAJUK formed a five-member probe body led by its Director Oliur Rahman to investigate the fire incident and if the building had any fault with its design.
The probe body was asked to submit its report within three working days.
