Armanitola Fire: 2 warehouse owners held

Rab arrested two men accused in a case filed over the devastating fire at an unauthorised chemical warehouse that killed five people in old Dhaka's Armanitola on Friday.

Mostafizur Rahman was arrested in Nandigram, Bogura, and Mohammad Mostafa in the capital's Uttara during Rab raids early yesterday, said Commander Khandaker Al Moin, Legal and Media Wing director of Rab.

They are the second and third accused in the case filed by Bangshal police against eight named and 27 to 28 unnamed people.

Both of them admitted storing chemicals and highly flammable goods in their warehouses and stores in Haji Musa Manson, the six-storey building which caught fire.

"They didn't have the permission to store chemical and flammable goods there," Commander Moin told a press briefing at Rab Media centre in the capital's Karwan Bazar.

Each of them paid a monthly rent of Tk 15,000 for each shop in Musa Manson, Rab officials said.

Mostafa lived on the first floor of the building. He managed to flee with his family members through the balcony moments after the fire broke out, they added.

The fire also injured 23 people.

Ten of the injured are still being treated at Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery.

Three of them, including a newly married couple, are in the ICU, said Samanta Lal Sen, the coordinator of the institute.

Muna Sarkar and Ashiquzzaman Khan, both computer engineers, got married just over a month ago. They are on life support with severe injuries to their lungs, he added.