Fire destroys 50 Dhaka shanties

At least 50 shanties were burnt in a fire at Karwan Bazar railway slum in the capital yesterday.

The fire originated at the slum around 12:25pm, said fire officials. On information, four fire fighting units doused the blaze around 1:20pm. No casualty was reported.

Aynal Haque, worker at a rickshaw garage, who had been living in the slum for 40 years, lost everything in the fire. “My family was at work at the time of fire. We had furniture, some gold ornaments and Tk 17,000 in the room. But when we returned, everything turned into ashes,” he said. Another fire victim Samoni Begum's room was just few yards away from the place where the fire originated. She was in the room with her two toddlers when the fire was burning the shanties. “I left the room hurriedly with my babies to save our lives. But I could not save any of my belongings. All were burnt before my eyes,” Samoni said.

The fire might have originated from electric short-circuit or from gas stove, fire officials suspected.