11 burnt in Dhaka shop fire

People gather in the area, just opposite to The Daily Star building at Farmgate, during the fire incident in the capital on Thursday. Photo: Star

At least eleven people sustained burn injuries when a fire broke out at a shop at Tejturi Bazar in the capital this afternoon.

Among them, four to five victims were critically injured with 50-60 percent burn injuries on their bodies, said sources of Dhaka Medical College Hospital burn unit.

Two of the victims were female private university students. Shammi Akhter Jhilik, 19, a first year student World University and Rifat Ara Yasmin, 20, from Northern University were hurt when they were passing through the road adjacent to the shop that caught fire.

Details of the other victims which include the shop owner, workers and pedestrians, could not be known immediately.

The fire originated at a garments accessories shop, Mahfuz Swing, on the ground floor of a four-storied building near a garment factory, Alauddin & Sons Pvt Ltd, near Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue.

Panicked garment workers from Alauddin rushed out of their workplace after smoke started to billow out from the building at 2:45pm

Locals however put the fire out before it could spread. 

The fire might have broken out from an electric short circuit at the shop, said Mamun Mahmud, Deputy Assistant Director of Fire Service and Civil Defence.

The fire was already in control by the time two units of Fire Services and Civil Defence reached the spot.