Dhaka slum fire brought under control

A fire that broke out at a slum in Dhaka’s densely populated East Raja Bazar neighbourhood this morning has been brought under control after around one and a half hours.

The firefighters brought the fire under control around 9:45am, Duty Officer of Fire Service and Civil Defence Atiqul Alam Chowdhury told The Daily Star.

No report of casualty was received immediately.

According to residents of the Ambagan slum, which is beside the IBA Hostel of Dhaka University, the fire originated at 8:20am.

Informed by locals, 10 firefighting units rushed to the scene and brought the flame under control.

The residents however could not say how it began.

“We suddenly saw large flames of fire engulfing the shanties. We don’t have any idea where or how originated,” Kalpana Begum, a female resident of the shanty, told The Daily Star.

She was moving to a safer place with some of her belongings which include two trunks.

At least 10 shanties were burnt in the fire.

Many other people were doing the same, in frantic effort to save as much as possible, as the firefighters were trying to douse it.

Fourth class employees of Dhaka University built the slum. While some of them live there, some others have rented the shanties to other people.