At least 44 people, including 26 women and three children, died this Thursday as a result of a fire in a seven-story shopping center located in the capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka, according to authorities.

The Minister of Health, Samanta Lal Sen, has reported that 33 bodies have been transferred to the Dhaka Medical University Hospital, while another ten are at the National Institute of Burns and Plastic Surgery.

The body of another man has been taken to the Central Police Hospital in the residential area of ​​Rajarbagh, according to Inspector General Chowdhury Abdullah al Mamun, as reported by the local newspaper ‘The Daily Star’.

The fire started around 9:50 p.m. (local time) at the Kacchi Bhai restaurant in the Green Cozy Cottage shopping center., located on central Bailey Street. Several people have been rescued by passers-by with a ladder until the arrival of nearly 13 firefighting units that have responded to the scene.

Although the reasons for the fire are currently unknown, preliminary investigations point to a gas stove in the restaurant on the ground floor. The building only had two elevators and one staircase with no emergency exit..