Dhaka, June 4
At least 117 peorsons 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, said.

"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 Collage Hospital in ambulances, rickshaws and rickshaw vans where the army doctors joined in treating the injured.

Others were rushed to old Dhaka's Sir Salimullah Medical Collage and Mitford Hospital which hurriedly opened a makeshift burns unit to treat the injured.

DMCH doctors said 22 persons were now being treated at their facility, 11 of them with "very critical wounds". They said 16 critically injured were shifted to Combined Military Hospital (CMH) at the Dhaka Cantonment while four others succumbed to their wounds. Army medical teams were called in to help overwhelmed staff at the DMCH.

A fire brigade official earlier said the fire began when an electrical transformer exploded at around 10 p.M. Last night. It quickly engulfed a small plastic factory and four other multi-storied buildings and adjacent chemical shops, sending flames some 300 feet high like volcanic eruptions.

Witnesses said the fire destroyed a row of apartment buildings, one of which was hosting a packed wedding party. Engulfed chemical shops "exploded like bombs with drops of burning chemicals hitting the surrounding buildings like shrapnel as the blaze spread instantly, killing many before they could realise what was happening.

"It appears the hell has come down here.... We see rescuers are retrieving burnt bodies one after another from the ruptured structures using search lights," a television channel reporter said. The footages showed people, including women and children, running to look for relatives.

Witnesses and survivors said many people were burnt alive as they tried to rescue their family members from the inferno. "In my 40 years of career, I never saw a disaster like this . . . So many people came simultaneously with burn injuries," DMCH's burn unit chief Dr Samanta Lal Sen said. Meanwhile, the government has declared a national mourning tomorrow. — PTI

London, June 4
Handwritten notes by Mahatma Gandhi during the protracted negotiations with Lord Mountbatten before the Partition are among priceless documents of ‘immense historical importance’ secured by a British heritage fund.

The National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) has contributed £2 million to secure the Broadlands Archives that contain documents chronicling major political events which shaped Britain at the end of the 19th century.

The archives include notes and documents of Lord Mountbatten, who, as the last viceroy and the first Governor-General of independent India, played a key role in the negotiations that saw British withdrawal from India.

The documents include a handwritten note from Mahatma Gandhi to Mountbatten where he writes about his vow of silence. The archives contain 4,500 boxes of official papers and personal correspondence from major figures in the Victorian era.

The NHMF spokeswoman said: “These notes, pencilled on the back of used envelopes, chart Gandhi’s shift from fervent opposition to the partition of the country, to reluctant acquiescence.” The archives will now be bought by the University of Southampton which, with the NHMF grant of 1,993,760 pounds reached its fundraising target of £2.85 million. The archives will be based at the university. — PTI

London, June 4
An Indian doctor in the UK’s National Health Service has been charged with 18 sexual offences against 10 women while working as a locum at three surgeries in Oxfordshire.Yenugula Srinivas (40), who gained his medical qualifications in 1992 from the University of Madras, has been released on bail by the Thames Valley police and will appear at the Oxford Magistrates Court on June 11.

He has been charged with sexually offending women in their 20s, 30s and 40s, between February 2008 and July 2009. The offences were allegedly committed at surgeries in Islip in Oxfordshire, St Clements in Oxford and at the Bury Knowle Surgery in Headington, Oxford.

A spokesperson for NHS Oxfordshire said: “We can confirm that a locum GP, Dr Yenugula Srinivas, is facing criminal charges following an investigation by Thames Valley Police. Due to the ongoing criminal proceedings, we are unable to say anything further at this time.” — PTI

Australian scientists, who reported their research in the American Chemical Society’s journal Analytical Chemistry, said the new blood testing method could be a boon to health care in developing countries. — PTI