4-yr-old girl dies in Dhaka slum fire

Smoke coming out from the shanties at a slum at Battala Katasur in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur area after fire breaks out there on Sunday morning. Photo: TV grab

The charred body of a four-year-old girl was recovered from the gutted remains of Battala slum in Dhaka’s Katasur today, where a devastating fire ravaged about 400 shanties.

The minor was Fatema, daughter of a CNG-driven auto-rickshaw driver Joynal who hailed from Madaripur, Azizul Haque, officer-in-charge of Mohammadpur Police Station told The Daily Star Online after visiting the spot.

The body was recovered at least four hours after the fire broke out around 8:28am this morning. “Fire fighters recovered the burned body this afternoon,” the OC said.

“Fatema’s parents were away when the fire broke out. She was missing since. Later around in the afternoon, her burned body was recovered,” he said.

However, the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained. Around 400 shanties were gutted in the fire, the police official added.

Fire Service and Civil Defense headquarters’ operator Golam Mostafa told The Daily Star Online that the fire broke out around 8:28am this morning. “10 fire fighting units brought the fire under control around 10:00am.”

However, the fire fighters were still engaged in dousing the flames completely until last reported around 1:10pm, fire service headquarters and the OC said.

The reason of the fire could not be ascertained.