Ashish Kumar, duty officer at Bangshal Police Station in old Dhaka, said that a railing from a five-story building collapsed during the quake, killing two pedestrians instantly, News.Az reports, citing Xinhua.
A third victim later died at Sir Salimullah Medical College and Mitford Hospital.
In addition to the fatalities, three others were injured as residents of Dhaka rushed out of their homes in panic. Some makeshift structures also collapsed amid the tremors.
Scores of houses in Dhaka and other parts of the country have sustained varying degrees of damage.
Following the quake, authorities launched an emergency service response and sent a work team to the site to assist with disaster relief efforts.
Farzana Sultana, a meteorologist from the Bangladesh Meteorological Department, told Xinhua the epicenter was 13 km east of the Agargaon Seismic Center in the capital Dhaka.
Bangladesh, which sits in the zone of earthquakes, is prone to tremors.
