Massive fire guts popular shopping centre in Bangladesh's capital

A massive pre-dawn fire gutted thousands of shops at a shopping centre here on Saturday, forcing the fire service to seek the help of the military, paramilitary as well as police to extinguish the blaze, the second such incident in Bangladesh's capital this month. The fire, which raged a few days after a popular clothing market was partially destroyed, began on the second floor of New SuperMarket, a shopping centre between the popular Newmarket and Dhaka College, around 5.45 am and quickly spread to other floors, Newmarket Police Station chief Shafiqul Gani Sabu, was quoted as saying by news portal bdnews24.com.

Fire service officials said there were no reports of deaths in the tragedy as the fire erupted before shops opened for the day.

The officials said 34 people, including 15 firefighters and rescue workers alongside the shop owners, fell sick as they inhaled black smoke while the rescue campaign was underway.

The injured were rushed to specialised Sheikh Hasina Burn Institute and Dhaka Medical College Hospital where doctors said the conditions of at least two of them were “critical”.

“The fire has largely come under control within three hours after it broke out...

We are carrying out the rescue campaign... our priority is to save the shops as much as possible,” fire service chief Brigadier General Mohammad Moinuddin said.

Moinuddin, however, noted that flammable objects were there in some shops as consumer items which quickened the spread of the fire in the three-storey market and gutted over 100 shops.

He said the cause of the fire could not be ascertained immediately but did not rule out possibilities of sabotage and urged the police and intelligence agencies to investigate whether a recent series of fire incidents were an outcome of any orchestrated plot.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, meanwhile, ordered a thorough investigation to find if any plot was hatched to create unrest ahead of elections slated for early next year.

Building fires and explosions caused by leaking gas cylinders, faulty air conditioners, and bad electrical wiring are frequent in Bangladesh.

Saturday's fire broke out just 11 days after a pre-dawn blaze in a nearly identical manner broke out and burned several thousand shops at Old Dhaka’s Bangabazar clothing market.

The Bangabazar fire devastated some 5,000 shops weeks ahead of the Muslim festival of Eid since efforts of hundreds of firefighters and army personnel could do little to save their belongings as the inferno tore through the clothing market, turning them into a pile of ashes.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)