At least three children and three women were burned alive in two fire incidents that gutted around 50 small plastic factories, 20 warehouses and 100 houses at Lalbagh in the city yesterday.
The first fire occurred around 9:00am at East Islambagh and the second one at Islambagh Namapara Mosque Lane, just 200 yards from the spot of the first fire, around 12:30pm, killing the six people and injuring 10.
The fires damaged properties worth over Tk 4 crore while a few opportunists looted valuables from the houses and factories as the victims and fire-fighters were busy trying to put out the blazes.
At least 15 fire engines fought for over six hours to control the fires. They had difficulty in reaching the spots and douse the flames as they were at very congested areas with narrow roads and lanes.
The deceased were identified as Nasrin Begum, 28, her 13-month-old son Emon and five-year-old daughter Sharmin, another five-month-old infant Sajjad and his grandmother Sufia Begum, 40, and Amena Begum, 35. All six were neighbours and were reportedly sleeping when the fire started. They lived in rented houses belonging to Badiuzzaman.
Among the injured, four were admitted to the Burn and Plastic Surgery unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) as their condition was stated to be critical. They are landlord Badiuzzaman, 55, Khalilur Rahman, 60, Akhter Hossain, 25, and Sumi Begum, 14.
None could say how the fires started.
Almost all the buildings there house factories or storerooms on the first floor while people live on the ground floor. Most were electric cable and plastic utensil factories.
Witness to the second fire Marjina said, “A nearby sponge sandal factory caught fire and the fire spread to the entire area in no time reducing factories, houses and goods to ashes.”
On the first fire incident at East Islambagh, landlord Nur Begum, said the fire destroyed all her valuables.
The fire victims are staying under the open sky.
Categories: Daily Bangladesh News
