Suddenly there was a fire in Khawaja Tower at Mohakhali in Dhaka. On Thursday evening, flames were seen from the 14-storey building. The cause of the fire and no immediate injuries were reported. However, many people are stuck due to fire during office hours. After the fire, many people were seen climbing down from the roof of the building to the roof of the neighboring building.
It can be seen on the ground that after the fire, traffic stopped on both sides of the road from Amtali to Gulshan. Apart from this, electricity connection has also been disconnected in Mohakhali area due to the fire incident.
Meanwhile, as soon as the fire broke out, internet service was cut off in that area and several neighboring areas. Several internet service providers including 2 data centers and 2 IIGs in that building are at risk due to fire. At the same time, the mobile tower is also in danger. In the meantime, calldrops have increased on various mobile operators. Internet speed is affected. Grameenphone issued a message to customers expressing their regret.
Imdadul Haque, President of Internet Service Providers Association, ISPAB, said that more than 60 percent of Internet bandwidth in the country may be shut down due to the fire at Khawaja Tower. As a result, uninterrupted internet service may not be available and call drops may increase.
According to sources, this building houses Dhaka Colo and NRB datacenter. There are also 2 offices of IEG’s Pop and Internet service providers Earth, Race, Virgo, IP Communications. Mobile calls and internet services are being disrupted in different areas of Dhaka due to the damage to the connections of Interconnection Exchange (ICX) operators in the tower. As a result customers are not getting uninterrupted calling facility and internet service.
In a statement, for the fire in the Khawaja Tower, the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) informed that, Mobile calls and internet services are being disrupted due to the damage to the connections of Interconnection Exchange (ICX) operators in the tower. With the assistance of the concerned ICX operators, the mobile operators are working hard to replace it at some other place to reestablish the ICX. ‘We hope, soon the situation will be improved.’
Efforts to put out the fire were going on till the last news. 11 units of fire service are working to control the fire. Rafi Al Farooq, duty officer of the fire service control room, said that there was a fire at Khawaja Tower in Mohakhali. The fire broke out on the 13th floor of the 14-storey building. We have seven units working to control the fire. More units are on their way to the scene. The fire did not go out even after one and a half hours. Bangladesh Army, Navy and Air Force joined their support at 6:10 PM.
It is reported that the fire service received information about the fire at 4:58 pm. Then the first unit reached at 5:07 and started extinguishing the fire. However, Shajahan Sikder, head of the media cell of the fire service headquarters, could not immediately give any information about the cause of the fire and the casualties.
