Staff Reporter :
Abut 8,000 shanties were gutted when a devastating fire broke out at Ilias Mollah Slum in city’s Mirpur area early Monday.
No death was reported so far. However, a woman was taken to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) in a critical condition, police said.
A total number of 21 fire service units took the flames under control within half an hour at around 8:30am by conducting a fanatic operation three, Mahfuzur Rahman, a Duty Officer at the Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD), said.
Fire Service Director (Operations) Major Shakil Newaz told The New Nation that approximately 8,000 shanties at the slum were brunt.
He said, narrow roads leading to the slum and lack of available water sources slowed the fire service efforts.
Meanwhile, a three-member probe body led by Debashi Bordhon, Deputy Director of FSCD, has been formed to investigate into the incident, he added.
Renu Begum, 55, a resident of the slum who used to live with 15 of her family members, told The New Nation that the fire broke out from the south and spread quickly. Now, we are homeless, she added.
Though most residents were able to flee safely, many have lost their all belongings, she said.
Some 25,000 people live in the 70 bighas of land at Ilias Mollah Slum, most of whom are low-income labourers. A significant number of population of the slum works in various garments factories at Mirpur, a local said.
Many of the houses stocked scrap cloth, which may have contributed to the spread of the fire, he said.
Several rickshaws and vans were parked in front of the access road to the slum and bricks kept on the road for ongoing construction work, hampering the operation of the fire service, according to him.
Local MP Ilias Ali Mollah said that arrangements would be made to support and rehabilitate those affected by the fire.
A woman named Zamila Khatun, 65, sustained burn injuries in the fire. She was taken to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, said Bachchu Mia, in-charge of the hospital’s police outpost.
The fire originated at Ilias Mollah Slum around 3:30am, said Dadan Fakir, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Pallabi Police Station.
