An old building in old part of Bangladesh's capital Dhaka. (Photo: Internet)
Many people in the Nimtoli area of old Dhaka will remember June 3 as a black day. That's when in 2010 one of the worst fires in country’s history broke out in a residential building. Later the fire spread to at least 14 adjacent residential buildings and roadside shops.
The devastating blaze left 123 people, mostly women and children, dead and more than 200 badly injured. It also gutted properties worth thousands of dollars. Aftermath investigations found the fire originated from a chemical factory just below the building that blew up.
In the wake of fire Government directed all chemical factories to move from the city and relocate into suburbs within couple of months. The order was largely ignored. None of the thousands of illegal chemical factories, many trading sensitive and explosive chemicals, moved either. There are chemical warehouses and dumping grounds all over the area.
