26 shops burn down in Barisal

At least 26 shops and establishments burned down in a devastating fire at Kauria Bandar in Hizla upazila yesterday afternoon.
An electrical short-circuit sparked off the fire at a bedding shop at about 1:00pm, which soon engulfed the adjacent shops of stationery products, medicine, cloth and readymade garments and a restaurant.
In absence of fire service in the region, local people using power pumps of a road repairing and irrigation scheme extinguished the blaze at about 3:00pm.
Eight people received minor injuries while trying to extinguish the fire.
The shop owners estimated the loss at Tk 1 crore.