14 houses gutted in Chittagong city

The fire broke out at Jahangirer Colony under Kotowali thana at around 11.30am and spread fast enough to reduce the houses to ashes in one and half hours, sources said.

Four units of fire fighting vehicles managed to extinguish the fire at around 12.40pm.

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Fire service sources said a burning candle sparked off the fire and estimated the loss at Tk 15 lakh.

However, fire victims and local people claimed that the fire damaged property worth over Tk 30 lakh.

Md Syedul Alam, an official of Sonali Bank in Dhaka and owner of two video shops in the port city, was the worst victim of the blaze, they said.

The fire gutted all the six houses of Syedul Alam, his brothers and sisters, along with the furniture and electronics goods, said Setara Shamim, Syedul's sister-in-law.

Syedul's wife Shamsun Nahar Munni, a teacher of Halishahar SOS School, broke into tears when she returned from the school only to watch the fire engulfing her house.