Deadly fire in Dhaka

This item appears on page 18 of the April 2019 issue.

A fire swept through the historic district of Chawkbazar in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Feb. 21, killing at least 78 people. The fire started in a mixed-use building with a chemical storage unit on the ground floor. The chemicals, along with residents' cooking-gas canisters, caused the fire to spread quickly. The 400-year-old district is made up of closely packed houses on narrow streets, which hindered attempts to extinguish the fire.