The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

The Rangs building at Bijoy Sarani Crossing under demolition suddenly collapsed in the capital late Saturday night, killing at least four people and injuring dozens of others while about 10 demolition workers were believed to have been trapped inside the rubbles, witnesses said yesterday.

Eleven floors of the partly demolished Rangs Bhaban-from 14th to 3rd floors suddenly caved in, raining large chunks of concrete and glass shards down on workers who were demolishing the structure, said Selim Newaz Bhuiyan, a Fire Brigade official.

Several workers were hit by debris, while others were hurt trying to jump to safety out of lower floors. Rescuers pulled out at least 20 injured workers from the rubble and recovered three bodies.

The Government has formed a three-member enquiry with Chief Engineer of Rajuk Shah Alam and deputy chief engineer of RAJUK, and a teacher of BUET, to investigate the matter, Law, Information and Land Adviser Barrister Mainul Hosein told journalists at his Secretariat office in the morning.

He said the Government is shocked to learn of the loss of lives in the collapse of the building.

"We will pay compensation for the people who were killed in the collapse and provide proper treatment facilities for the injured," Barrister Mainul said.

Witnesses said the 14th floor caved in on to the 13th floor at about 10:45pm as the demolitions workers were working on eight floors - from 14th to 6th -- of the 22-storied building, leaving 13 workers trapped under the rubbles.

A Fire Brigade official said that with the collapse of the 14th floor, the other floors down to the 3rd also caved in one after another.

On information, firefighters and Army rescue team rushed to the scene and recovered the body of worker Amirul Islam, 28, from under the debris Saturday night. But the bodies of two other ill-fated workers could not be recovered from under the debris till 10:00pm yesterday.

The other 12 injured workers, rescued in critical condition from under the wreckage, were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, and other hospitals in Tejgaon area.

"I saw legs of two workers sandwiched between collapsed walls at the 7th floor," a collapse survivor said, adding that another worker was killed at the demolition site a few months ago after falling from a top floor.

But, the rescue operation could not be carried out at the advice of the building experts, who said, the building should be stabilised first by scaffolding the structure before the rescue operation. A team of Civil Engineering Department of BUET, led by Associate Professor Dr Raqib Hasan and Associate Professor Dr Syed Istiak, visited the spot and declared the building highly vulnerable.

Director General of Fire Services Rafiqul Hasan said they could not start the rescue operation without consulting the RAJUK officials.

A number of law enforcers were also deployed at the collapsed site to avert untoward incidents.