India on Thursday extended heartiest condolences to the victims of the massive fire, which broke out in Chawkbazar's Churihatta area of Old Dhaka early on Thursday morning, claiming 70 lives so far.
Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Raveesh Kumar, took to Twitter saying, "India is saddened by the loss of lives as a result of the tragic fire in Dhaka on February 20. We offer our deepest condolences to relatives of those affected by the accident."
"As a close neighbour and partner, we stand by the people & the Government of Bangladesh in this hour of grief," the Ministry added.
According to the local media, the fire broke out around 9:30 am after a gas cylinder kept in the warehouse storing highly flammable chemical and plastic products exploded and engulfed several multi-storey buildings located in the Lalbagh market place.
The death toll in the devastating fire is suspected to rise, said officials.
Meanwhile, the people who were injured in the fire were admitted in the nearby hospitals.
Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Sayeed Khokon and local MP Haji Md Salim paid a visit to the market place and monitored the situation after receiving information from the fire officials.
"Our priority right now is to douse the fire completely and attend to the wounded," Khokon was quoted as saying.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)