Bangladesh police arrest building owners over fatal blaze

CORRECTS PHOTOGRAPHER'S NAME - A high-rise office building damaged by Thursday's fire is pictured in Dhaka, Bangladesh Friday, March 29, 2019. A Bangladeshi housing official said Friday criminal charges would be filed against the owner of the building where a fire killed dozens of people and which had four upper floors constructed illegally.(AP Photo/Al-emrun Garjon)

DHAKA, Bangladesh – Police in Bangladesh's capital have arrested two of the owners of a commercial complex that caught fire last week, killing 26 people and injuring about 70.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of the Detective Branch Shahjahan Shaju told The Associated Press early Sunday that they arrested F.R. Tower's owners Tasvir-ul-Islam and S.M.H.I. Faruque in Dhaka after police charged them with negligence and violations of a building code that resulted in casualties.

Authorities say the complex on a busy avenue in Dhaka's Banani commercial district had no fire-protected staircases and some top floors of the 22-story building were illegally constructed.

The blaze that burned for several hours Thursday trapped people inside the building, some shouting for help from windows on upper floors and the roof.