Death toll from Dhaka building fire reaches 56, could rise further

The death toll from a fire in a centuries-old area of the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka, jumped dramatically to 56 people, a fire official said on Thursday, and could continue to rise. "So far, 56 bodies have been recovered. The number could rise further as searching is still continuing," Julfikar Rahman, a director of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, told Reuters. The toll from the fire, which broke out in Dhaka's Chawkbazar area on Wednesday, had earlier been put at 10.