Teenager burnt in Mohakhali fire

A teenage boy sustained burns in last night's fire at Sat Tola slum in Dhaka's Mohakhali that gutted around 100 shops and shanties.

Rakib Islam (15), who works as a labourer, was admitted to Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery around 2:00am today with 25 percent burns.

Hailing from Kishoreganj, Rakib was trapped in a shanty were he used to live with a relative when the fire originated around 11:45pm yesterday.

He woke up due to the scorching heat. He ran thorough the fire and fumes to save his life and was burnt.

"When I woke up, I saw fire raging around me," Rakib said.

Locals took him to the hospital. His condition is critical, said duty doctors.

Shahjadi Sultana, duty officer of Fire Service and Civil Defence Headquarters, said they were yet to get any report of casualties in the fire.

Though 12 firefighting units brought the fire under control at 12:55am today, it took two hours more to completely douse it, she said.

The Director General of Fire Service and Civil Defence Brig Gen Sajjad Hossain last night said the fire gutted mainly the shops at the slum.

If the fire reached parts where people live, it could have been catastrophic, he added.

He said much of the firefighting manpower was taken up trying to clear hundreds of people from the area, adding that the narrow paths inside the slum made the task particularly difficult.

The reason of fire is under investigation. A woman, however, claimed it was caused due to the explosion of a refrigerator compressor.