Fire guts Chattogram slum, 1 dies

An 83-year-old man was charred to death and as many as 50 thatched huts were destroyed in a major fire that broke out at a slum in the port city of Chattogram early on Tuesday morning, reports UNB.

The fire broke out at the slum near the export processing zone area of the port city. On January 3, a number of huts were gutted in a fire at the same slum.

Farid Ahmed Chowdhury, assistant director of Chattogram Fire Service and Civil Defense, said the fire broke out in a hut early this morning and soon spread across the slum.

As many as eight fire tenders were pressed into service to contain the fire. "It took us over two hours to bring the blaze under control," the official said.

Firemen recovered the charred body of Mohamamd Naushed from a hut during a search-and-rescue operation in the slum. However, the extent of loss caused by the fire could not be ascertained yet.

Firemen suspect an electrical short-circuit could have triggered the blaze.

Fires at slums in Dhaka and other parts of the country, home to many low-income people, are quite common. Such fires leave thousands of their residents homeless every year.

According to data compiled by Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence, there were 174 cases of slum fire in Dhaka, Chattogram and Rangpur last year.