Dhaka: A five-storey apartment building collapsed in Bangladesh's capital and its debris buried some nearby shanties, killing at least 16 people and leaving several others trapped, authorities said on Wednesday.
The Cabinet minister in charge of overseeing local governments, Jahangir Kabir Nanak, said the government ordered an investigation into the collapse.
"The death toll rose to 16 today as rescue workers pulled out more bodies from the rubble," a police official told Gulf News as army troops were called out to extend help to fire brigade rescuers.
Witnesses and officials overseeing the rescue campaign at the scene said rescuers saw more bodies under the debris while they were cautiously trying to remove the rubble.
Residents in the neighbourhood said they heard a loud noise and then saw the five-storey building collapse on at least three houses.
Fire official Abdus Salam said some of those trapped were feared dead.
"We see more people crushed under the debris," Salam told reporters from the site of the accident in Dhaka's central Tejgaon district. "So the death toll is likely to go up."
Salam said the building was built on what was once a canal and the owner had been adding another storey to it.
Rescuers said most residents of the five-storey structure escaped unharmed but many residents of nearby houses remained trapped under rubble.
Fire officials said rescue work was hampered by live electricity wires and leaking gas pipes. It also took the rescuers three hours to reach the site of the collapse due to narrow lanes leading to the area.
"The lanes around the site are so narrow that no rescue vehicle or ambulance could go within 200 metres of the spot," a witness said.
Television footages showed victims' relatives mourning as troops and rescuers were removing the debris.
According to media reports the owner had not sought permission from the city development authorities to add the new storey. They cited officials from the Capital Development Authority, which oversees building construction in Dhaka.
Dhaka is a teeming city of more than 10 million people, and its many of the buildings are constructed without proper design and with poor materials.
With input from agencies
