(CNN) — At least 67 people have been killed and 40 injured after a fire tore through apartment buildings and chemical warehouses in a historic part of the Bangladesh capital Dhaka, according to Mohammed Nurul Islam, a senior official with the Home Affairs Ministry.

The latest such deadly blaze in the south Asian nation broke out Wednesday at 10:30 p.m. local time (11:30 a.m. ET) in Dhaka's Chawkbazar area, a district in old Dhaka with sprawling narrow streets and densely-packed buildings.

Police and fire officials revised down the death toll to 67 on Friday down from 78 on Thursday. Rasem Shikdar, officer with the Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defense, said there were "around 40 people" injured in the fire.

Inspector Morad Dul Islam with the Chawkbazar police said 45 bodies have been identified.

Throughout the night, firefighters battled the blaze, which is believed to have started when a fuel cylinder stored in a car exploded.</s>Bangladesh fire kills more than 80, injures 50 in capital Dhaka

A devastating fire has raced through a centuries-old neighbourhood in Bangladesh's capital and killed at least 81 people, according to officials and witnesses.

About 50 other people were injured in the fire in the Chawkbazar area of Dhaka, which started on Wednesday and took 10 hours to bring under control.

The blaze started in one building and quickly spread in the district, which dates back 400 years to the Mughal era.

Mahfuz Riben, a control room official of the Fire Service and Civil Defence in Dhaka, said many of the victims had been trapped inside buildings.

"Our teams are working there, but many of the recovered bodies are beyond recognition," he said.

"Our people are using body bags to send them to the hospital morgue. This is a very difficult situation."

Another control room official, Russel Shikder, said 81 bodies had been recovered.

Julfikar Rahman, a director of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, said firefighters struggled to find adequate water supplies and had to draw water from a nearby mosque to fight the blaze.

The condition of some of the injured people was "critical", said Samanta Lal Sen, head of a burn unit of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

He said at least nine of the critically injured people were being treated in his unit.

Chawkbazar is crammed with buildings separated by narrow alleys. The blaze spread quickly between the buildings, some of which house chemicals and plastic.

Most buildings are used both for residential and commercial purposes, despite warnings of the potential for high fatalities from fires after a blaze killed at least 123 people in 2010.

Authorities had promised to bring the buildings into line with regulations and remove chemical warehouses from the residential buildings.

Witnesses told local TV stations that many gas cylinders stored in the buildings continued to explode one after another. They said the fire also set off explosions in the fuel tanks of vehicles stuck in traffic in front of the buildings.

Building safety regulations are rarely followed in Bangladesh, and such accidents kill hundreds of people every year.

The Rana Plaza factory collapse in 2013 killed more than 1,100 workers and a fire in a garment factory in 2012 killed 112 people.</s>Munir Uz Zaman / AFP | Firefighters try to extinguish a blaze in Dhaka on February 21, 2019.

The death toll from a fire in a centuries-old area of the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka, jumped dramatically to 70 on Thursday, a fire official said, and could keep climbing as fire fighters combed the wreckage of the destroyed building.

Large building fires are relatively common in impoverished Bangladesh, due in part to lax regulations, and have killed hundreds of people in recent years.

"So far, 70 bodies have been recovered. The number could rise further as the search is continuing," Julfikar Rahman, a director of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, told Reuters.

The fire started in a four-storey building on Wednesday night and spread to nearby buildings in the Chawkbazar area of Old Dhaka, which dates back to the Mughal period more than 300 years ago.

Rahman said at least 50 people had been taken to hospital, some in critical condition.

Hundreds of people rushed to the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital to search for missing relatives, witnesses said.

About 200 firefighters fought for more than five hours to bring the blaze under control.

They told reporters the building where the fire began had housed a plastics warehouse and contained flammable material.

Rahman said the cause was still under investigation. He said firefighters had struggled to find enough water to fight the blaze and had to draw supplies from a nearby mosque.

The fire is likely to focus attention on lax enforcement of building safety regulations in Bangladesh, where accidents kill hundreds every year.

The Rana Plaza factory collapse in 2013 killed more than 1,100 workers and a fire in a garment factory in 2012 killed 112 people.</s>Dozens of people have been killed after a massive fire broke out in apartment buildings also used as chemical warehouses in a centuries-old part of Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, according to fire officials.

The devastating blaze, which began around 10.40pm (16:40 GMT) on Wednesday at Chawkbazar in the old part of Dhaka, was not yet entirely under control as of Thursday morning.

With rescue operations ongoing, fire officials gave different death tolls, ranging from at least 45 to 69 people. About 50 others were injured, including some critical, and the number of those killed was expected to rise.

Fire service chief Ali Ahmed said the fire might have originated from a gas cylinder before quickly spreading through the building where highly flammable chemicals were stored.

The flames raced through four adjoining buildings, which were also used as chemical warehouses, including for storing plastic granules and body sprays.

"There was a traffic jam when the fire broke out. So people could not escape," Ahmed said, describing a part of town where the streets are very narrow.

Another fire official told reporters that the blaze has been "confined" but not yet doused despite the efforts of more than 200 firefighters.

"It will take time. This is not like any other fire," he said, adding the blaze became so devastating due to the "highly combustible" chemicals stored there.

A similar fire in 2010 in an old Dhaka building, which was also used as a chemical warehouse, killed more than 120 people in one of the worst fire tragedies in Dhaka.</s>Bangladesh fire LIVE Updates: At least 70 people were killed Thursday in a fire that swept a centuries-old area of Bangladesh capital Dhaka. The fire initially broke out at a chemical warehouse on the ground floor of a four-storey building named Hazi Wahed Mansion behind a mosque in Old Dhaka’s Chawkbazar area and quickly spread to nearby buildings.

The death toll from last night jumped to 70 Thursday morning. “The number could rise further as search is continuing,” Reuters quoted Julfikar Rahman, a director of the Fire Service and Civil Defence as saying.</s>A fire has swept through several building in a historic district of Bangladesh's capital Dhaka.

The blaze broke out Wednesday evening in a multi-storey residential building with one floor reportedly used to store flammable chemicals.</s>DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Charred buildings and vehicles are all that remain of sections of a centuries-old shopping district in Bangladesh’s capital, where a late-night fire raced through narrow alleys packed with residences, shops, restaurants and warehouses and killed dozens of people.

As the flames lit up the night, firefighters frantically doused the buildings in Dhaka’s Chawkbazar area with water.

Once morning broke and the blaze was under control, the search for the dead began.

At least 70 bodies had been recovered by Thursday afternoon and it was feared the death toll would rise as some of those injured in the fire were in critical condition.</s>A devastating fire raced through densely packed buildings in a centuries-old district in Bangladesh’s capital, killing at least 81 people, officials and witnesses said Thursday.

The fire in Dhaka’s Chawkbazar area was mostly under control after more than 10 hours of frantic firefighting efforts. About 50 people were injured, some critically burned.

The district dating to the Mughal era 400 years ago is crammed with buildings separated by narrow alleys, with residences commonly above shops, restaurants or warehouses on the ground floors. Denizens of the Muslim-majority nation throng to Chawkbazar each year for traditional goods to celebrate iftar, when the daily fast is broken during Ramadan.

WATCH BELOW: Devastating fire races through old part of Dhaka

“I was talking to a customer, suddenly he shouted at me, ‘Fire! Fire!‘” said Javed Hossain, a survivor who came to assess the damage to his grocery store Thursday afternoon.

Hossain’s brother took his hand and they leaped onto the street before the shop was engulfed in flames.

Outside the gutted store, the road was strewn with charred vehicles, pieces of still-burning metal and plastics and hundreds of cans of body deodorant.

The blaze started late Wednesday night in one building and quickly spread to others, fire department Director General Brig. Gen. Ali Ahmed said.

Many of the victims were trapped inside the buildings, said Mahfuz Riben, a control room official for the Fire Service and Civil Defense in Dhaka.

Another control room official, Russel Shikder, said 81 bodies had been recovered.

The fire services director, Maj. AKM Shakil Newaz, said many were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Ambulances were arriving carrying bodies, and relatives were mourning in front of the morgue.

First responders were delayed in reaching the site in part because nearby roads were closed for national holiday commemorations on Thursday. Just after midnight as the fire blazed, Bangladesh’s prime minister and president laid wreaths at a monument 1.3 kilometres away to commemorate protesters who died in a 1952 demonstration for the right to speak Bengali, the local language.

Fire officials said the road closures worsened traffic, slowing down some of the fire trucks rushing to the site.

Most buildings in Chawkbazar are used both for residential and commercial purposes despite warnings of the potential for high fatalities from fires after one killed at least 123 people in 2010. Authorities had promised to bring the buildings under regulations and remove chemical warehouses from the residential buildings.

A government eviction drive in Chawkbazar and other areas of Old Dhaka was met with protests last May right before Eid, the beginning of Ramadan, by business owners and residents.

Dr. Md. Manjur Morshed, an assistant professor of urban planning at Khulna University of Engineering and Technology in Khulna, said government regulations are routinely flouted in Chawkbazar.

Such tragedies are shockingly common in Bangladesh, where fires, floods, ferry sinkings and other disasters regularly claim dozens of lives or more.

In 2012, a fire raced through a garment factory on the outskirts of Dhaka, killing at least 112 people trapped behind its locked gates. Less than six months later, another building housing garment factories collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people.

READ MORE: Owner of Bangladesh factory ravaged in fire says he didn’t know it needed emergency exits

The death toll from the latest fire could still rise because some of the injured people were in critical condition, said Samanta Lal Sen, head of a burn unit in the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Sen said at least nine of the critically injured people were being treated in his unit.

Witnesses told local TV stations that many gas cylinders stored in the buildings continued to explode one after another. They said the fire also set off explosions in fuel tanks of some vehicles that were stuck in traffic in front of the destroyed buildings.

Some reports suggested many of the fatalities were pedestrians, shoppers or diners who died quickly as several gas cylinders exploded, and the fire engulfed nearby buildings very quickly.</s>A devastating fire has raced through densely packed buildings in Bangladesh’s capital and killed at least 70 people.

About 50 other people were injured and the fire in Dhaka was mostly under control by Thursday morning after more than nine hours of frantic efforts by firefighters.

The Chawkbazar area is crammed with buildings separated by narrow alleys.

The neighbourhood is a mix of residential and commercial, with buildings that commonly have shops, restaurants or warehouses on the ground floors.

The blaze started on Wednesday night in one building but quickly spread to others, fire department director general Brigadier General Ali Ahmed said.

The death toll rose to 70, with many of the victims trapped inside the buildings, said Mahfuz Riben, a control room official of the Fire Service and Civil Defence in Dhaka.

“Our teams are working there but many of the recovered bodies are beyond recognition. Our people are using body bags to send them to the hospital morgue, this is a very difficult situation,” he said by phone.

Some floors of the destroyed buildings had chemicals and plastic in storage.

Most buildings are used both for residential and commercial purposes despite warnings of the potential for high fatalities from fires after one had killed at least 123 people in 2010.

Authorities had promised to bring the buildings under regulations and remove chemical warehouses from the residential buildings.

The death toll could still rise as the condition of some of the injured people was critical, said Samanta Lal Sen, head of a burn unit of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Mr Sen said at least nine of the critically injured people were being treated in his unit.

Witnesses told local TV stations that many gas cylinders stored in the buildings continued to explode one after another.

They said the fire also set off explosions in fuel tanks of some of the vehicles that got stuck in traffic in front of the destroyed buildings.</s>DHAKA (Reuters) - A huge fire broke out on Wednesday at a building in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, a fire service official said, and local media reported that at least three people had died in the blaze.

All available units of the fire service were instructed to rush to the scene to put out the blaze, said Mahfuzul Haque, an official at the Fire Service control room.

It was not immediately clear what caused the fire at the building in Chawkbazar in the old part of Dhaka.

The Dhaka Tribune reported on its website that at least three people had been killed in the fire and several more had been taken to hospital.
A fast-moving fire has swept through a historic district of Bangladesh's capital Dhaka, killing at least 80 and wounding 50 others.