About 3,000 people in Bangladesh were left homeless after a massive fire consumed several hundred shanties in a slum on the northern outskirts of the capital city of Dhaka, government officials said on Sunday.
Three people were injured in the blaze that struck a congested slum in Mirpur town on Friday night.
Video footage showed heavy plumes of smoke billowing all around the slum area, just a few kilometres from the country’s main cricket stadium.
Fire officials scrambled to get access to enough water and struggled for three hours to douse the flames, said Anwar Hossain, senior station manager of Mirpur fire station.
“According to our investigation committee 1,200 shanties were damaged and out of this 750 shanties burnt totally,” said Enamur Rahman, junior minister for Disaster Management and Relief.
There were no fatalities as most residents were away celebrating the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, officials said.
Rahman said the government will initially provide a total of 500 tonnes of rice and 1.3 million takas ($15,476) for everyone affected and authorities were looking into the reason for the fire and to assess the extent of the damage. He rejected some news reports that said many more homes were destroyed.
Fires at factories, slums, and markets are common in Bangladesh. At least 25 people were killed in March this year when fire broke out in a 22-storey commercial building in Dhaka’s upscale area of Banani.
You might also like…24 coffins found in a House during drug raid
Operation Siyadudula found 24 coffins in Orange Groove during raids done by the operation.
The Siyadudula operation general secretary, Benjamin Chisari said they were raiding houses looking for drugs, houses used for prostitution and any other illegal activities that residents of Orange groove have been complaining about. continue reading…
Source: Reuters
