Over the past few months, Bangladesh has been passing an anxious situation. Banani FR Tower and Gulshan DNCC Market fire

I was at the canteen during lunch hours at my workplace on Thursday when I found out about the fire in FR Tower. Everyone's eyes were fixated on the TV.

The European Union wants Bangladesh to replicate the safety standards in garment factories at all buildings to ensure workplace safety.

Most high-rise buildings in Dhaka lack fire safety measures, which can cause high causalities in case of a fire, experts said.

When the deadly fire was razing through the FR Tower in Banani yesterday, thousands of “over-enthusiastic” people poured into the Kamal Ataturk Avenue, giving the firefighters a tough time while running the rescue operation.

Only 129 of 3,786 establishments in Dhaka city surveyed by the Fire Service and Civil Defence headquarters in 2017 were not classified as “Risky” or “Extremely Risky”.

The FR Tower had no permission for its top four floors and there was no fire-protected staircase in the 22-storey building that houses dozens of offices, Rajuk and fire service officials have confirmed.

Exhausted and terrified, Saifur Rahman, employee of Amraa network office on the 17th floor of the 22-storey Faruk Rupayan Tower in the capital's Kamal Ataturk Avenue, sat on the pavement near the building.

At least 19 people were killed and around 100 others injured as a deadly fire tore through 22-storey FR Tower in the capital's Banani area yesterday.