Fire guts thousands of shops, police barrack in Bangladesh

A fire gutted thousands of shops in a market in a residential neighborhood of the old part of Bangladesh's capital on Tuesday morning, destroying goods and property.

No casualties have been reported.

Bangabazar, one of the biggest clothing markets in the country, was not open for business at the time when the fire broke out.

Brigadier General Md Main Uddin, director general of the department of fire service and civil defense, told Xinhua that 48 fire service units along with members of the armed forces, Border Guard Bangladesh, and Rapid Action Battalion have brought the blaze under control at 12:36 p.m. local time, after over six hours of frantic efforts.

The fire, spreading to at least six nearby markets, sent thick black smoke into the air visible at least several kilometers away for hours.

Thousands of traders lost their shops and warehouses of readymade garments fully or partially in the devastating blaze.

Almost all the shops in Bangabazar and the adjacent markets stocked huge products ahead of Muslim Eid festival, Bangabazar Shop Owners' Association Office Secretary DM Habib told journalists.

He said at least 3,500 shops in Bangabazar and nearby markets have been gutted in the massive fire.

The exact cause of the fire, which broke out around 6:00 a.m. local time, has not been ascertained.

At least eight people, including two members of the Fire Service and Civil Defense, were injured while working to control the massive fire.

Apart from the shops, a barrack of the police headquarters in Dhaka was burnt due to the fire that spread from Bangabazar market.

Inspector General of Police Chowdhury Abdulla-Al-Mamun told journalists that the barrack located on the fifth floor of a building of the police headquarters was burnt.

Furniture and other goods were burnt but luckily no police personnel were injured in the incident, he added.

The disaster has brought new attention to safety conditions in the country's booming trading sector.

Md Main Uddin, director general of Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defense, told journalists Tuesday that his department had declared the gutted clothing market "risky" in terms of fire safety several years earlier.

He said that they even hung a warning banner in front of the market following the declaration.