Around 8,000 shanties have been gutted and four people, including women and children, were injured in a devastating fire at a slum in the city's Mirpur area early on Monday.
Fire Service and Civil Defence Director (operation and maintenance) Maj Shakil Nawaz confirmed BSS of the matter.
The fire took place in the Ilias Molla Slum at Mirpur 12 around 3:30am and soon spread to the rest of slum and gutted 8,000 shanties and valuables of the slum dwellers, and injured four, he said.
A total of 20 fire fighting engines rushed to the spot and doused the flame after five hours of frantic efforts around 7:45am, he added.
One of the injured was rushed to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment.
Meanwhile, a three-member committee, headed by Fire Service and Civil Defence Deputy Director Debashish Bardhan, was formed to probe the incident with a directive to complete the investigation within seven working days.
After visiting the spot, local lawmaker Ilias Molla told reporters that the slum was built on 70 bighas of land and accommodated around 25,000 people, mostly garments workers.
The Dhaka district administration has announced it will give 30 kilograms of rice to each of slum’s families.
Some of the affected slum dwellers and fire-fighters blamed stockpiling of construction materials on the road heading towards the slum in delaying the fire engines from reaching the fire faster.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
