Three killed in Old Dhaka fire
Three of a family were burnt to death as a fire gutted 10 houses in Old Dhaka's Islambagh area yesterday afternoon.
The dead are Shamim Hossain, 35, his wife Shima Begum, 27, and his cousin Saleha Begum, 38.
Locals said the fire originated at a kitchen on the first floor of a three-storey building and spread to a nearby four-storey building around 4:00pm.
The victims lived in the second building. Shamim worked at a shop on the ground floor of that building. He had gone to his room on the first floor to have a nap closing the shop around 2:00pm. Saleha was also his neighbour.
Shamim's elder brother Shohrab Hossain, who lived with his family on the second floor of the same building, said all the other family members came out shortly after the fire started.
“We thought that the three had also got out. However, firefighters recovered their charred bodies from the staircase after the flames were doused around 8:00pm,” he added.
The victims probably tried to rush out but could not, said fire-fighting officials, adding that 12 of their units worked.
The fire affected at least 150 families, said locals.
In another incident, eight people were hurt after apparently a refrigerator compressor exploded in a shop near the Lalbagh intersection in the capital around 4:45pm, said firefighters and police.
One of the injured was a rickshaw-puller, Abul Bashar, who was passing through the area in his rickshaw. He burnt 80 percent of his body and was being treated at the burn unit of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said DMCH sources.
After the blast, broken pieces of furniture, walls and door laid strewn inside the eatery, named Mithai.
Some of the debris from the explosion flew to the road, halting traffic for a while, said witnesses.
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