200 shanties gutted in city fire

Staff Correspondent:

About 200 shanties, including 15 shops, were gutted in a fire that engulfed the whole Jurani Balur math Bholar slum in Shampur in the city yesterday afternoon.

Local and police sources said the fire originated from the shanty of Jahanara Begum at around 3 p.m. when she was cooking. Soon the fire engulfed the whole slum and the shanties were turned into ashes.

The slum dwellers could only manage to come out of the shanties to save their lives but lost most of their belongings in the fire. A youth named Mohammad Khokon sustained burn injuries and was rushed to a local hospital. Pushpa Rani, a vegetable vendor, said she was selling vegetables than she saw her house in flames and rushed to rescue her 10 year-old child, Babu, who was sleeping inside the shanty. Although she was able to save her child, she could not save her belongings worth TK 8,000 which were all destroyed in the fire.

Fire Brigade sources said six firefighting units rushed to the spot immediately and were able to douse the flame at around 3:45 pm.