Fire alarm disrupts consensus talks at Foreign Service Academy

A sudden fire alarm at the main building of the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka disrupted today's national dialogue between the National Consensus Commission and political parties, currently being held at the academy's Shapla Hall.

Around 12:15pm, the fire alarm unexpectedly went off, raising concern among participants. Moments later, the session was suspended by Prof Ali Riaz, vice-president of the National Consensus Commission.

After five minutes, Ali Riaz said, "The fire alarm has gone off here, so we will need to leave the room for a while."

Following his announcement, all attendees exited the conference hall.

An official of the Foreign Service Academy told reporters that someone smoking on the third floor of the main building triggered the smoke detectors.

The participants left the main building, and by 12:25pm, the fire alarm was turned off, our reporter said from the spot.

As of the filing of this report, the dialogue had not resumed yet. Academy staff were seen investigating the cause of the incident.