Dhaka, Apr 23 (IANS): One person was killed and 17 others were injured as a fire broke out at a chemical warehouse in the old part of Bangladesh's capital city Dhaka early on Friday.

The fire originated on the ground floor of the five-storey building where the chemical warehouse is located at around 3:00 a.m. local time, Md Shahin Fakir, officer-in-charge of Dhaka's Bangshal police station, told journalists.

He said that 19 firefighting units managed to bring the fire under control after hours of fighting. The body of the victim was recovered from the building after putting out the fire, who was believed to have died of asphyxiation by the toxic gas, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Of the 14 injured, 10 were sent to Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in Dhaka, he said, adding that their respiratory organs might have been damaged to some extent.

The cause of the fire remained unclear.

Fires are common in parts of old Dhaka where hundreds of thousands of people are crammed in congested houses.

A devastating fire in the old Dhaka area killed at least 124 people in 2010, causing a public outcry to relocate chemical warehouses and stores from the area.