South Africa fire kills four Bangladeshis

Four Bangladeshis, including three of a family, were killed as a fire broke out at a shop in Brits City area of North West province in South Africa early Saturday.

The victims are: siblings -- Anwar Hossain and Mosharraf Hossain -- of Char Majlispur in Sonagazi upazila, their maternal uncle Mominul Haque of Jagatpur village in Daganbhuiyan upazila and Mohammad Ibrahim of Jamalpur.

Of the four, three were workers of the shop and another came to visit them.

Other Bangladeshis who witnessed the incident said the fire broke out at the shop owned by one Nurul Alam of Rajshahi around 2:00am (South African time) while the victims were sleeping inside.

They tried to come out of the shop, but failed and were burnt to death, said the witnesses.

Later, firefighters doused the flame and recovered the charred bodies.

The victims' family, however, alleged that criminals locked the shop from outside and set fire to it.

Daganbhuiyan Upazila Nirbahi Officer Saiful Islam Bhuiya said Feni district administration would take necessary steps to bring the bodies back home as soon as possible.