Toll touches 117 in Bangladesh inferno

At least 117 people were killed when a deadly fire engulfed a cluster of multi-storey buildings in the capital in the worst fire in Bangladesh's recent history.

Death toll from last night's deadly inferno in the densely populated Nimtali area in old Dhaka rose to 117 with recovery of more bodies from the debris and deaths of more people in hospitals as rescue operations continued at the scene, officials said.

"We have recorded 117 deaths, 102 bodies were handed over to relatives of the dead while 15 others were lying in hospital morgues as they are beyond recognition because of extreme burn injuries," Mohibul Haque, the deputy commissioner of Dhaka, told PTI.

"New units of the fire service joined the salvage campaign as several more bodies are feared trapped inside the debris," fire brigade spokeswoman Kazi Sufia said.

Most of the injured were rushed to the state-run Dhaka Medical College Hospital in ambulances, rickshaws and rickshaw vans where the army doctors joined in treating the injured.