The huge blaze razed around 2,000 tin shacks in a crowded Dhaka slum, making at least 3,000 people homeless. In the Bangladeshi capital, fires are frequent — and many a time deadly — due to lax safety measures.
Image: Reuters/A.R. Saad
Advertisement
A massive fire swept through a crowded residential area in Dhaka, destroying thousands of shanties, Bangladeshi officials said on Sunday.
The fire broke out in the Mirpur neighborhood late on Friday, with authorities managing to get the blaze under control on Saturday. Several people have been injured but no deaths have been reported.
"I could not salvage a single thing. I don't know what I will do," Abdul Hamid, a 58-year-old tea seller in the slum, told AFP news agency.
Officials say that many residents — largely low-income garment factory workers — were not in the slum when the fire broke out, as they had left their homes to visit their families in other parts of the country on the Muslim Eid festival.
"Otherwise, the damage would have been bigger," local police chief Golam Rabbani said.
Slum residents could not salvage a thing due to the fireImage: Imago Images/Zuma/S.M. Mukut
Fire services official Ershad Hossain said that around 10,000 people have taken shelter in makeshift camps in nearby school grounds.
"We are providing them with food, water, mobile toilets, and electricity supply," municipal official Shafiul Azam told AFP, adding that authorities were trying to find permanent accommodation.
Fires in residential areas are quite frequent in the South Asian country. Experts blame lax safety measures for these accidents.
Building fires in Dhaka have killed at least 100 people so far this year.
Bangladesh's worst building disasters
Devastating fires and building collapses are fairly common in Bangladesh, where safety regulations are often poorly enforced. Here are some of the worst tragedies in the impoverished country.
Image: Reuters/M. Ponir Hossain
Rana Plaza disaster, 2013
The collapse of the nine-story Rana Plaza garment factory in Dhaka on April 24, 2013, is one of the world's worst industrial accidents. More than 1,100 people were killed and another 2,000 were injured in the tragedy.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Abdullah
After the collapse
The disaster shed light on the poor safety conditions in Bangladeshi factories, many of which produce clothing for Western brands. Dozens of people, including Rana Plaza's owner, are standing trial for negligence. Despite some reforms to improve safety in the billion-dollar industry, Bangladeshi textile workers remain some of the lowest paid in the world.
Image: Imago/Xinhua
Nimtoli explosion, 2010
Bangladesh's deadliest industrial blaze to date tore through one of Dhaka's most densely populated areas on June 3, 2010, killing 117 people. A number of multi-story apartment buildings and shops in the Nimtoli district went up in flames after an electrical transformer exploded.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/epa/A. Abdullah
Ashulia garment factory fire, 2012
At least 112 workers were killed in a fire at the nine-story Tazreen Fashion factory in the outskirts of Dhaka on November 24, 2012. An investigation later found it was caused by arson and that managers at the Ashulia district plant had locked the gates to prevent victims from getting out. Above, a soldier inspects a room of charred sewing machines.
Image: Reuters
Chawkbazar blaze, 2019
At least 70 people were killed in a fire that engulfed apartment blocks in a historic Dhaka shopping district on February 20, 2019. The blaze began in a property in Chawkbazar where chemicals for household products were being stored illegally, before quickly spreading to several other buildings. It took almost 12 hours for firefighters to put out the flames.
Image: picture-alliance/Xinhua/S. Reza
Tongi factory fire, 2016
A fire triggered by a boiler explosion at a cigarette packaging factory north of Dhaka on September 10 killed some 31 people. Chemicals stored on the ground floor of the Tongi warehouse are thought to have helped the blaze spread quickly.
Image: picture-alliance/ZUMAPRESS.com
Gazipur factory collapse, 2017
A boiler explosion was also behind the collapse of garment factory in Gazipur, a city north of the capital, on July 4, 2017. Thirteen people were killed. Fortunately, thousands of workers were away for the Eid holidays.
Image: picture-alliance/NurPhoto/M. Hasan
7 images1 | 7
In March, a massive fire inside the 22-story FR Tower in Dhaka's Banani area left a number of people dead. A month earlier, at least 70 people were killed after a fire broke out in an apartment building that was reportedly also used as a chemicals warehouse. The blaze also spread to nearby buildings.
At least 112 workers were killed in a fire at the nine-story Tazreen Fashion factory in the outskirts of Dhaka on November 24, 2012. An investigation later found it was caused by arson and that managers at the Ashulia district plant had locked the gates to prevent victims from getting out.
Bangladesh's deadliest industrial blaze to date tore through one of Dhaka's most densely populated areas on June 3, 2010, killing 117 people. A number of multistory apartment buildings and shops in the Nimtoli district went up in flames after an electrical transformer exploded.
