Short circuit or gas leak might be the cause

An electric short circuit or a leaky gas pipe at a ground floor cafe was most likely the cause of the fire at the Bailey Road building late at night on Thursday, said investigators.

On the ground floor, plastic pipes were used for gas transmission, which is illegal, said a member of a probe committee formed by the fire service after visiting the seven-storey Green Cozy Cottage Shopping Mall.

The bomb disposal team of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit of police also visited the scene.

Its chief Rahmat Ullah Chowdhury said, "Power cables in the entire building are burnt. This usually happens when power lines short out and cause a fire."

He added that the cables he saw did not have the capacity to supply power to the seven restaurants and many other shops.

Over time, these wires weaken due to overload, he said.

"We had not seen any exploded gas tanks during the inspection. But some of the tanks must have leaked, causing the fire to spread rapidly. We are investigating, and maybe we will be able to give a clearer explanation later."

Lt Col Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury, chief of the five-member probe body of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, said the fire was first noticed at a cafe called Cha Chumuk, and the plastic pipe used for gas transmission was found there.

"We suspect there was an illegal gas connection to the cafe. We requested Titas Gas to check it."

There were a large number of cooking gas tanks, that had probably leaked, worsened the situation, he added.

There was neither an emergency exit nor fire extinguishers in the building, he said.

Selim Miah, general manager (operations) of Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited, said, "A team is checking whether there was an illegal gas connection to the building."