At least eleven people have died after a two-storey tin hut collapsed into a lake at Dhaka’s Rampura.
Police said 28 people lived in the hut that stood on bamboo poles at the side of an hyancith-filled lake at Hajiparha’s Jheelpar.
The incident happened around 3:30pm on Wednesday.
“The lower storey has been sucked in by the mud at the bottom of the lake,” said Rampura Police Inspector Md Alamgir Hossain.
Eleven bodies were recovered until 9pm, he told bdnews24.com.
Four Fire Service units were taking part in the rescue operations, said control room official Md Enayet Hossain.
bdnews24.com’s Staff Correspondent Kazi Mobarak Hossain reported from the scene that three divers of the Fire Service also joined the rescue efforts.
Rescuers tried to remove the tin ceilings from the mud by cutting off the bamboo poles but failed. They later used cranes to remove the frame of the hut, which was floating.
bdnews24.com photojournalist Asif Mahmud Ovee said that tow trucks were brought in around 8pm to remove collapsed hut’s frame so that the trapped could be rescued.
Rampura Police SI Abdur Rashid said bodies of two men, aged between 25 and 30, and a woman were recovered around 4:45pm.
Doctors at the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital declared dead Nizam Khan, 45, and ‘Mizan’, 35, when they were taken there, Inspector Mozammel Haque said.
Deceased Nizam’s son ‘Sabuj’ said they lived on the ground floor of the shack.
A neighbour took his father to the hospital, he said.
Fire Service officials rescued a number of survivors and sent them to hospital.
Authorities believe the death toll may rise, as many others are still feared trapped under the rubble.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina offered her sympathies over the casualties, according to her office’s media wing.
Nasrin Akter, sister of deceased ‘Runa’ and ‘Jakir’, said they had moved to a room of the lower storey last month and they were about to shift next month.
“The hut was so flimsy that it would shake when someone walked. We were very scared during the storm a few days ago.
“I was on the first floor when the incident happened. My husband Khokon, Runa and Jakir were on the lower storey,” she said.
Khokon was rescued alive, but her sibling were found dead.
Akter told bdnews24.com that at least 40 people were in the hut when it collapsed and half of them are still missing.
Readymade cloth worker Syed Ibrahim Ali lived in that hut with his wife, in-laws and three-brothers-in-law. He said that most of the inhabitants of the hut were garment workers.
“The incident happened in the afternoon, when a lot of the dwellers left for work after lunch. Otherwise, a lot of people would have died today,” he said, speaking to bdnews24.com.
A local, Jahangir Alam, said one Monir Mia had built the hut two years ago and rented it. He used to collect Tk 4,000 to 5,000 for each room. Mia is involved with the local Awami League and one of his brothers Tunu Mia was affiliated with the local BNP, according to locals.
None of the brothers could be contacted after the hut collapsed.
Source: Bd news24