Four houses gutted

At least four houses were gutted and two people sustained burn injuries as a fire broke out at Puizar village in Pangsha upazila early Tuesday. The injured were identified as Shariful Islam, 50, owner of a burnt house, and his son Foysal Islam, 20. Fazlul Haque Mandal, station officer of Pangsha fire service, said the fire originated from an electric short circuit at a house and soon engulfed three other adjacent houses. On information, a firefighting unit from the upazila headquarters rushed in and doused the blaze after three hours of frantic efforts, he said. The injured were admitted to the upazila health complex and then shifted to Faridpur Medical College and Hospital as their condition deteriorated. The affected house owners claimed that the loss caused by the fire could go up to Tk 20 lakh.