Fire at Bangladesh’s NTV channel halts output

Bengali broadcaster National TV (NTV) has suspended its output due to a fire at a building where the channel is based in Dhaka.

The eleven-story office building houses several media outlets including NTV and RTV. The fire began around 10:30am (local time) on Sunday.

The fire was so fierce that it forced a woman jumped to her death and a man dying of suffocation. 200 others are injured.

The fire broke out, apparently from the second floor of the state-run Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation owned building in Dhaka’s Karwan Bazaar business hub.

“I am the last man to climb down,” said a trembling Khairul Anwar, the chief news editor of NTV Television as the fire brigade officers helped him to get down from the rooftop at about 5pm.

NTV’s news editor Rezawanul Haque Raza said the transmission of their channel and the sister concern RTV would remain suspended for indefinite period as the fire ‘badly damaged’ the broadcasting equipment.

In the UK, NTV is distributed by Channel S on Sky Digital EPG 826. The channel is currently running a ticker at the bottom of its screen stating the fire will affect shows – relaying repeat programmes instead.