World

Major fire in popular shopping center of Bangladesh

April 15, 2023
Bharat Times

The fire broke out even before the shop opened.

Dhaka:

A massive fire destroyed thousands of shops at a shopping center in Dhaka on Saturday, prompting the fire service to call in the army, paramilitary as well as the police to douse the blaze, the first of its kind in Bangladesh’s capital this month. This is another incident of its kind. ,

The fire, which started days after the popular clothing market was partially destroyed, broke out at around 5.45 a.m. on the second floor of New Supermarket, a shopping center between Popular Newmarket and Dhaka College, and quickly spread to other floors of Newmarket Police Station. Went. The news portal bdnews24.com quoted the chief Shafiqul Gani Sabu as saying.

Fire service officials said there was no report of any casualty in the tragedy as the fire broke out before the shops opened for the day.

Officials said 34 people, including shop owners as well as 15 firefighters and rescuers, fell ill due to black smoke during the rescue operation.

The injured were taken to the specialized Sheikh Hasina Burn Institute and Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where doctors said the condition of at least two of them was “critical”.

“The fire has been largely brought under control within three hours…

“We are carrying out rescue operations… Our priority is to save as many shops as possible,” said Brigadier General Mohammad Moinuddin, the head of the fire service.

However, Mr Moinuddin said the inflammable items were in some shops as consumer goods, causing the fire to spread rapidly in the three-storey market and wipe out more than 100 shops.

He said the cause of the fire could not be ascertained immediately but did not rule out the possibility of sabotage and urged the police and intelligence agencies to investigate whether the recent series of fire incidents were the result of a well-planned conspiracy.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ordered a thorough investigation to find out whether there was a conspiracy to create unrest ahead of elections due early next year.

Leaky gas cylinders, faulty air conditioners and faulty electrical wiring are frequent incidents of building fires and explosions in Bangladesh.

Saturday’s blaze comes 11 days after an earlier pre-dawn blaze in an almost identical manner engulfed Old Dhaka’s Bangabazar clothing market and gutted several thousand shops.

A few weeks before the Muslim festival of Eid, the Bangabazar fire destroyed nearly 5,000 shops as the efforts of hundreds of firefighters and army personnel to save their belongings did little as the fire spread through the clothing market. The flames reduced them to a heap of ashes.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)