Fire engulfs TV HQ building in Bangladesh

[Analoguesat]

(February 26th, 2007)



At least three people died and dozens were injured today in a fire that raged through a multi-storied building in the Bangladesh capital housing two private television channels and a newspaper office. Two of the victims died of burn injuries in hospital while another died after leaping from the sixth floor of the building to escape the flames, doctors and witnesses said.

More than a hundred people have already been rescued, but still many were feared still trapped, including in the lifts. Witnesses said fire fighters and airforce helicopters were still trying in the early afternoon (0815 GMT) to put out the blaze and rescue an unspecified number of people stranded inside. Army, police and the elite Rapid Action Battalion force had joined the rescue effort.

The cause of the fire and extent of damage caused was not immediately known. Witnesses said thousands of people thronged the roads around the 11-storey building more than four hours after the blaze started. ”The fire is still raging inside,” a fire fighter said, as thick smoke billowed into the sky.

The building, in the Kawranbazar business district of Dhaka, houses NTV and Rtv stations and the Amar Desh newspaper - all owned by a former member of parliament. Survivors said around 2,500 people work in the building on normal work days. The building also houses at least half a dozen other commercial and business offices.

(Source: Reuters via MN))

[Analoguesat]

NTV broadcast in the UK as "Channel S NTV" and are currently showing repeated programmes with a ticker at the bottom of the screen explaining the problems they are having

[Analoguesat]

Two fire-ravaged Bangladesh TV channels plan to return to air within two weeks

(February 28th, 2007)

The Bangladesh TV channels Ntv and RTV are planning to resume partial operation within two weeks, probably for 7-8 hours a day, as the probe committee continues its efforts to identify the causes of the fire that knocked the two private TV channels off air on Monday. ”It’ll take about three months for their full-fledged operation as they need to import equipment to replace the damaged ones,” a senior journalist of ntv said yesterday. The authorities had meetings with the journalists and general staff of the TV channels to decide their plans to resume their operation. The Board of Directors of the channels were scheduled to have further meetings today to finalise their plans.

NTV Managing Director Enayetur Rahman called upon the journalists and other staff members to remain united and not to leave ntv. He also requested the ntv staff to receive their salaries and benefits for this month today, about a week before the schedule. He also said he is even ready to sell his property, if necessary, to run the TV channel.

The fire brigade personnel recovered another charred body of a young man from inside the BSEC building yesterday, raising the death toll from Monday’s inferno to four. The deceased was identified as Anwar Hosain, security guard of ntv.

(Source: Financial Express via News from Bangladesh via MN)