Secretariat fire: Charred body of dog found on 8th floor
The incident has raised questions about how the animal reached such a secure location
Firefighters discovered the charred remains of a dog on the eighth floor of building 7 at the secretariat, following the devastating fire in the early hours of today (26 December).
The incident has raised questions about how the animal reached such a secure location.
"After extinguishing the fire, we searched the premises to ensure there were no victims. During this process, we found the dog's body," firefighter Md Imran Shikdar told reporters.
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Talking to reporters, Md Tarun, another firefighter involved in the search, described extensive damage to the eighth floor, saying, "Walls have lost their plaster, and all documents are burnt.
"Floors six, seven, and nine have also suffered varying degrees of damage."
The blaze, which took around 10 hours to extinguish completely, had engulfed floors six, seven, eight and nine of the building after the fire broke out at around 1:52am.
Firefighters brought the flames under control at around 8:05am and doused them completely at around 11:45am.
Building 7 houses the ministries of finance, LGRD and cooperatives, youth and sports, post, telecommunication and information technology, labour and employment, and road transport and bridges, and different departments and divisions under them.
Investigations into the fire's cause and its unusual discoveries are ongoing.
Although authorities are yet to determine the extent of damage, Fire Service and Civil Defence Director General (DG) Brig Gen Muhammad Jahed Kamal told reporters that he believed that the flames destroyed most of the important documents of multiple ministries on the eighth and ninth floors.
According to officials, the Road Transport and Highways Division on the eighth floor, along with the Posts and Telecommunications Division and the Local Government Division on the seventh floor of building 7, suffered significant damage.
Several officials from these departments reported that these floors experienced the most intense fire, resulting in the destruction of office documents, furniture, and equipment. The fire also damaged the power and internet systems.
The sixth, eighth, and ninth floors also sustained damage. Officials from the ministries and the fire service are jointly assessing the extent of the losses. The ministries will soon provide detailed reports on the damage, according to the officials.
