News Desk :
Over 500 shanties were gutted as a massive fire that broke a slum in Dhaka’s Mohakhali area early Monday.
The fire started at Mohakhali “Sattola slum” around 3:40am, said Kamrul Hassan, a duty officer of Fire Service and Civil Defence.
On information, 18 firefighting units rushed to the spot and brought the fire under control around 6:35am, he added.
The reason behind the fire could not be known immediately.
Minu Begum, a resident of the slum, said that she woke up hearing people screaming after the fire broke out.
She managed to make it out with her mentally unwell husband and two children. But she could not take any of their belongings from the room, she told the media.
Monu Mia, a cleaner of Dhaka North City Corporation, said when the fire spread in the slum, he was at Karwan Bazar on duty.
He heard about the incident and soon came to know that his home was burning. By the time he reached the slum, all his furniture and other belongings in the shanty were gutted, he said.
Monu toiled hard and saved Tk 70,000 for building a house at his ancestral village in Patuakhali but that dream won’t be realised now, he told reporters.
Niyaz Ahmed, Deputy Assistant Director of Fire Service and Civil Defence, said, “Reason of the fire can’t be ascertained right now. There are many reasons which might have caused the fire.”
“There are illegal gas pipes in the slum and also, those are made of plastic, which might be one of the reasons. We gave our hundred percent effort to douse the fire,” he added.
Meanwhile, a five-member probe committee has been formed today by the Fire Service and Civil Defense to find out the exact reason behind the fire and the damage caused by it.
The committee led by Nur Hasan Ahmed, Deputy Director (DD) of Fire Service and Civil Defense (Development) and comprising of Abul Bashar, Deputy Assistant Director (DAD) of Fire Service and Civil Defense, Mahmudul Hasan, Senior Station Officer at Tejgaon Fire Station, Abdul Khaleq, Ware House Inspector and Golam Mostafa, Ware House Inspector, has been asked to submit a report within the next 7 working days.
Director General of Fire Service and Civil Defence Department, Brig Gen Sajjad Hossain, today said that the massive fire that broke out at a slum in Mohakhali might have originated from an illegal gas or electricity connection.
While briefing reporters at 7 am on Monday morning at the spot, the Fire Service DG said, “There were plenty of illegal gas and electricity lines which initially led us to believe that the fire started because of one of these two reasons.”
“We got the news of the fire at 3:59 am. Within 13 minutes our first unit arrived at the scene at 4:12 and we have been working ever since,” said the Fire Service DG.
So far no injuries have been reported.
When asked about what obstacles the fire service faced in extinguishing the fire, he said, “Due to overcrowd and many tin-shed shanties in the slum, it took some time to put out the fire. And the fire spread even more due to the presence of combustible materials.”
Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Atiqul Islam promised a compensation of Tk 5,000 for every family affected by the Mohakhali slum fire.
Atiqul made the announcement while visiting the Shattola slum around 12:35pm. There, he inspected the aftermath of the fire and talked to the victims.
Police said that about 480 families have been affected in the massive blaze that consumed over 100 shanties.
The mayor also said he had spoken to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief and measures are being taken to provide relief for those affected.
“For now, I have already talked with the councillors and the affected people will be provided lunch and dinner until relief arrives,” he said while talking to reporters.
Atiqul also said that they will provide tin sheds for shelter. Around 800 families are said to be living in the slums.
