FR Tower added 5 more floors flouting building code

The 23-floor FR Tower on the Kemal Ataturk Avenue in Banani added five additional floors as part of an extension flouting building code of Rajdhani Unyayan Kartripakkhya, Rajuk in short. 
Rajuk chairman Md Abdur Rahman told New Age that they gave permission for an 18-storey FR Tower. 
‘We have already formed a five-member inquiry committee to investigate how it carried out an extension of five more floors without permission from the authority and how it was built without regard to building code,’ the chairman asked. 
The committee will file a report within three working days,’ he said.
Earlier, the civil aviation authority had set a restriction on Banani area that no building over 15 storeys would receive its nod for safety of the flights landing and taking off at Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.
The 23-storey FR Tower caught fire around 12:45pm on Thursday. 
Twenty one units of the fire service struggled to control fire as the building that houses various corporate offices did not have the required fire-safety equipments, the fire fighters said.
Nineteen people died and over a hundred were injured at the devastating fire incident.
Those who survived the fire said that they struggled a lot trying to come out of the building as they found themselves trapped inside the glass tower in absence of any emergency fire exit.
Ibrahim Khalil, a 42-year old private service holder, who went inside the building as a volunteer with the fire fighters and reached up to its ninth floor, said that the glass-covered building turned into a ‘gas chamber’ and it was extremely suffocating inside for there were no exit routes for smoke. 
‘I went inside the building after hearing people crying for help from inside the building,’ he said.
Visiting the site, Dhaka South City Corporation mayor Sayeed Khokon said that the building was constructed in violation of the building code.
Rajuk should investigate how the building was constructed flouting the building code and immediate action should be taken against the owner, he added. 
Banani Police Station duty officer sub inspector Borhanuddin Rabbani said that no case was filed against FR Tower authorities till Thursday night.
Meanwhile, FR Tower Owners Association could not be contacted for comments despite several attempts. 
News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net