130 houses gutted in fire

At least 130 houses were gutted in a massive fire in the Sataru Para village of Nilphamari Sadar upazila yesterday evening. Five people were injured in the incident.

Food grains and other valuables worth more than Tk one crore were burnt in the fire that had originated from the kitchen of a villager named Ilias Hossain around 7:00pm, said fire service officials on the spot.

The fire soon spread to a huge pile of unthrashed amon rice beside Ilias's kitchen and gradually engulfed adjacent houses, union parishad chairman Abdul Mannan told The Daily Star.

The flames melted the high voltage electric lines and snapped it at different places. For fear of being electrocuted, people in the village did not do anything to douse the fire for a long time.

Fire brigade brought the fire under control after struggling for about two hours.

Asad Mia, project implementation officer (PIO) of the Sadar upazila, said he had visited the spot and assured this correspondent that the district administration would distribute warm clothes, dry food and necessary materials to build houses in the affected neighbourhoods today.