Firefighters were struggling till early hours today to fully douse the flames at the capital's Bashundhara City Shopping Complex, even some 14 hours after the fire broke out.

Plumes of smoke continued to spiral out of the eight-storey shopping mall at Panthapath around 1:30am today.

The cause of the blaze, which started on level-6 around 11:00am, remains unknown.

This is the fifth fire incident at the market and the adjacent 20-storey building which is used as Bashundhara's office since 2009, according to shop owners and and employees.

Yesterday's fire had initially threatened to cause heavy damage to life and property in the the busy marketplace, though only two people suffered suffocation and several shops were gutted in the end. Some 100 more may have been partially damaged. 

The toxic smoke virtually shrouded the adjacent areas up until late night, making it difficult for the people living around the mall to breathe.

The two victims -- both employees of the market -- were taking treatment at a private hospital.

Rescue teams evacuated all the people from the building within a few hours, and there was no immediate report of casualties. 

Talking to journalists, Jasim Uddin, head of marketing of the shopping mall, said seven to eight shops at C Block of level-6 were completely burnt. But they were yet to determine the full extent of the damage.

But MA Hannan Azad, president of Bashundhara Shop Owners Association, told The Daily Star some 100 stores were affected.

Soon after the blaze started, firemen rushed to the spot and tried to tame the flame using cranes and skylifts, but without much success.

Fire officials suspect the fire originated from a shop at Block C of level-6 of the complex, which houses about 2,300 shops in addition to food courts, Cineplex and gymnasiums.

As many as 29 fire engines were used in the operation, said Maj AKM Shakil Nawaz, director (operations and maintenance) of Fire Service and Civil Defence.

“The blaze could be controlled partially by dousing water,” he told reporters in the evening.

Eleven people, trapped on the rooftop, were rescued unharmed in the afternoon, said Deputy Director Mizanur Rahman of the fire service.

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Mizanur, who led the rescue operation, said eight persons were rescued earlier from inside the complex around noon.

Seven to eight people were seen on the rooftop seeking help around 2:00pm. Firefighters could not rescue them immediately due to smoke, said Shakil.

Firemen controlled the blaze around 9:00pm yesterday but it again broke out within an hour. Some 19 units of firefighters were still working to douse the fire around 1:30am today.   

Rafiqul Islam, a shop employee on the ground floor, said most of the shops were open by 11:00am. Soon afterwards he heard screaming from upstairs, saying: “Fire, fire.”

“I stayed about 15 minutes inside the market to understand the situation. Later I came out with others,” he added.

Tajul Islam, who works at a mobile shop on level-6, said the fire broke out at a luggage shop. He and three others were about to open the shop, when he heard people shouting.

“I saw huge smoke and blaze from a shop,” said Tajul, adding he wanted to join in the rescue team but security personnel drove him out of the market for safety.

In March 2009, seven people were killed and 20 others injured in a fire that broke out on a top floor of the 20-storey building adjacent to the shopping complex.

A government probe body could not identify the cause of the fire but mentioned of gross negligence of the authorities.

Although the other incidents were smaller, shop owners raised concern, saying the authorities should thoroughly investigate the repeated incidents of fire and take action.

After visiting the spot yesterday, Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Annisul Huq said they would investigate why the building caught fire again and again.

Shafiqul, a fireman of the shopping complex and one of the two who fell sick because of suffocation, said he received a message on walky-talky about the fire when he was working on level-7.

“I rushed to the spot with an extinguisher and tried to douse the flame,” said Shafiqul, adding that the shopping complex had 40 firemen of its own.

Around noon, firefighters broke several glass walls from each side of the building to clear the smoke.

A five-member committee was formed to investigate the cause of the fire. It has been asked to report within five days, said a fire service official.