Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Dipu Moni expressed profound shock at the loss of lives in a devastating fire at AMRI Hospital at Dhakuria in Kolkata on Friday.

The foreign minister in two separate messages to her counterpart in New Delhi SM Krishna and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee conveyed her deep sympathy to members of the bereaved families and prayed for early recovery of the injured.

“We were shocked and dismayed to learn about the devastating fire and the resultant casualties,” she said in her message to Krishna.

In her message to Banerjee, Dipu Moni said “on behalf of the Government and people of Bangladesh and on my own behalf, I convey to you and through you to the members of the bereaved families my heartfelt condolences”.

At least 88 people, most of them patients including one from Bangladesh, were suffocated to death on Friday when a massive fire swept through a hospital in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, according to reports.

BBN/SSR/AD-09Dec11-11:37 am (BST)