Timely action averts fire tragedy at Banani high-rise

This could have been another tragedy like last year's FR Tower fire if the situation was not brought under control promptly, fire officials said after dousing the blaze at 22-storey Ahmed Tower yesterday.

The fire originated at the office of Redington (BD) Ltd, which provides IT related services, around 11:34am on the 15th floor of Ahmed Tower, a high-rise next to FR Tower in Dhaka's Banani where a fire claimed 27 lives.

Eight firefighting units doused the fire within an hour, said Saleh Uddin, assistant director at Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence.

"We rushed to the scene very fast with the experience of last year's incident at FR Tower. Fortunately, the fire didn't spread. Otherwise, it could have been another devastating tragedy," he said.

The cause of the fire could not be known immediately. No casualties were reported.

Due to the fire, panic gripped people working at the offices in the building. Many came down to the street.

Witnesses said that the fire did not spread as it was controlled with their fire extinguishers immediately. Fire fighters broke all windows of the floor so that smoke could come out.

A probe committee will be formed to identify the cause, the fire official said.

Iftekhar Hossain Khan, country manager of Redington (BD) Ltd, told The Daily Star that their office was closed for last several months and they were about to start their operations from today.

"We don't yet know how the fire originated. Fire officials are inspecting," he said.

On March 27 last year, 26 people were killed and more than 70 others were injured in a fire at FR Tower.