Fire tears through popular clothing market during busy Eid sales in Bangladesh capital

A huge fire ripped through a clothing market in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, injuring several firefighters and gutting thousands of businesses ahead of Islam’s largest festival Eid-al Fitr later this month.

The blaze broke out at the Bangabazar Market, a packed complex with 3,000 shops in Dhaka, at dawn on Tuesday and quickly spread.

Around 50 fire units with some 600 personnel were working to douse the flames for the past six hours as it continued to spread through the cramped market. At least eight people, including two members of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, were injured as they worked to control the blaze, reported the Dhaka Tribune.

Shahjahan Shikder, the officer-in-charge of the media wing of Fire Service and Civil Defence, said the fire was controlled at 12.36pm local time.

However, the blaze was seen to be spreading to the neighbouring building as winds fanned the flames, it was reported.

Visuals from the area showed a huge pillar of thick black smoke billowing from the complex. Shop owners, families, and residents gathered at the ruins of businesses that were turned to ashes.

The cause of the fire is not known yet. Fire services official Rafi Al Faruk said: “We have no immediate reports of any casualties.”

But shop owners said the market and three adjacent commercial precincts were destroyed in the blaze.

Bangladesh’s military joined the efforts with choppers to rescue people trapped inside the buildings.

The fire in the holy month of Ramadan has left helpless shopowners in tears. They have not only lost their shops but stocks worth thousands of Bangladesh taka as they prepared for the bumper sales ahead of Eid, the Muslim festival marking the end of Ramadan.

“I have never seen such a fire in my life. Everything in my shop was burnt down,” Abdul Mannan said while talking to his relatives on his phone as he broke down in tears.

Another person said he borrowed 1.5m taka ($14,100) to buy Eid clothing for his shop. “I have lost everything,” he said.

Others continued to race to bring out the stock from their burning shops while their family members and friends tried to stop them from risking their lives.

It is not the first time a deadly fire has broken out in Bangabazar. The cut-price market for international brands that failed to meet export standards is managed by the Dhaka South City Corporation.

The market suffered at least six small to medium fire incidents in the past, according to official data. Huge fires have led to hundreds of deaths in the South Asian country due to lax regulations and poor enforcement.