Four minor siblings were burnt to death as a fire broke out at a slum in Aturer Depot area of Chittagong city early Saturday.
The blaze also gutted at least 36 shanties.
The deceased were identified as Tanzina, 4, Alauddin, 5, Salahuddin, 7 and Nurun Nabi, 10. Their mother Hosne Ara Begum, a widow, survived the fire.
The children were asleep when the fire broke out.
Fire service sources said the fire originated in one of the shanties of Md Ali Colony at Shantibag from a mosquito coil at about 2:45am and soon it engulfed 35 other adjacent shanties.
Three fire fighting units from the city’s Bayezid Fire Station rushed to the spot and doused the fire after one and a half hours’ frantic effort.
Property loss caused by the fire was estimated at Tk 3 lakh, fire service sources said.
Hosne Ara, who lost four of her seven children in the fire, had married off her eldest daughter Rozina, 18, the same night.
“I left my mother and five siblings at around 12.30am as they bid me farewell after the marriage and I heard the news of the fire late at night,” said Rozina.
“One of my sisters escaped the death as I took her with me,” she said.
Locals managed to save Hosne Ara and one of her daughters Nabila but failed to rescue four others since the main gate of the colony was locked.
The owner of the slum Md Ali said they usually keep the main gate locked at night to prevent theft.
“Due to poverty my mother came to Chittagong from our village home at Goainghat in Sylhet one year ago with high hopes,” said Rozina through tears.
On her arrival at Chittagong, Hosne Ara took a job in a jhut (garment by-product) sorting factory at Aturer Depot for only Tk 40 a day and Rozina joined a garment factory.
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