A tragic fire at a high-rise building in the capital’s Katabon area on Elephant Road claimed the lives of two individuals early Saturday morning.

The deceased have been identified as 24-year-old Md Jony, son of Babul Mia from Kishoreganj and 20-year-old Abdus Salam, son of Selim Sarkar from Bogura’s Kahalu upazila.

Both victims were legal professionals, with Jony serving as a clerk to Barrister Moazzem and Salam working as a clerk for Prosecutor Abdullah Al Noman at the International Crimes Tribunal.

The blaze erupted on the 12th floor of the 14-storey Al-Baraka Tower at approximately 1:05 am.

Responding to the emergency, six firefighting units were dispatched to the scene.

Md Sihab Sarkar, an official from the Fire Service and Civil Defence control room, stated that crews managed to bring the fire under control by 3:08 am, with the operation fully concluding once the blaze was extinguished at 5:40 am.

Firefighters managed to rescue two individuals from the building and immediately rushed them to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), where attending physicians declared them dead.

Md Nazmul and Sarwar, who accompanied the victims to the hospital, noted that the fire broke out at around 1:05 a.m., causing dense smoke to rapidly fill the upper floors of the building.

Inspector Md Faruk, the in-charge of the police camp at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, confirmed that the bodies have been transferred to the DMCH morgue for further procedures.

At this time, the exact cause of the fire and the full extent of the structural damage remain under investigation.