128 shops burnt in Khilgaon market fire

At least 128 shops were gutted in a fire that swept through Khilgaon City Corporation kitchen market in the capital early yesterday, said traders.

The incident happened just five days after the Gulshan-1 DNCC kitchen market inferno that burnt down over 200 shops.

On information, 16 units of the fire service doused the fire around 5:35am, over two hours after it broke out in the Khilgaon kitchen market, said Lima Khanam, duty officer of Fire Service and Civil Defence Headquarters.  

“Details about the losses and the origin of the fire can be known after investigation,” she said. 

A fireman, Abu Musa, 35, who sustained minor injuries while trying to extinguish the fire, took primary treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, the official added.

A woman, her eyes brimming with tears, looks on at the devastation left by the fire in Khilgaon yesterday. Photo: Collected

Mokshed Ali Sarder, general secretary of Khilgaon kitchen market, said 92, out of 837, at their market were gutted and 36 more shops at Pubali Shopping Centre and Khilgaon Uttara market.    

When asked about the probable reason behind the fire, he said the incident might be subversive activities as there were some similar incidents in the capital in the last couple of days.

He demanded proper investigation by the police into the incident.

Shafiqul Islam, officer-in-charge of Shahjahanpur Police Station, said the fire seemed to have originated from an electric short circuit.

“We are yet to get any official complaint about any kind of criminal activity behind the fire, but will investigate the incident,” he said.

All the 128 shops were made of corrugated iron sheets.

Abul Kalam Mollah, a clothes trader, whose two shops were gutted, said the fire first broke out at the kitchen market and then spread through two other adjacent markets.

“After being informed, I, along with my son Forhad, 22, quickly reached the spot and attempted to recover goods from my two shops, but I lost goods, worth over Tk 20 lakh, stored in the shops for sale ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr,” he told The Daily Star.

A hardware trader, Mohammad Sanaullah, said he rushed to his shop immediately after hearing about the fire. After reaching the spot, he found his goods burnt down.

The Gulshan-1 DNCC kitchen market inferno occurred just days after the fire in a Banani building claimed 26 lives.

A month before the Banani fire, a massive fire that ripped through several buildings in Old Dhaka's Chawkbazar killed 70 people.