Around 250 shanties were also gutted in the fire that broke out at around 9:30pm.

Local people found the body of Helena Akhter, a student of class two, while digging through rubble in the slum in the morning.

Delwar Hawlader, father of the victim, said he along with his three children was sleeping in his house when the blaze broke out.

"I woke them up and we rushed out of the shanty," added Delwar, a rickshawpuller.

"But I suddenly found Helena missing," he cried out in a tear-choked voice.

The slum dwellers said several groups are in dispute over the ownership of the slum. A shootout also took place in the area two months back in this connection.

The blaze left around 1200 people, mostly rickshawpullers, hotel employees and domestic helps, homeless. They are now passing their days under open sky.