Fire at New Super Market completely doused: Fire service

The fire service has handed over the charges of New Super Market, adjacent to the New Market in the capital, to the police after dousing the fire completely on Sunday morning, said fire service and civil defence official Shahjahan Shikder.

Now the law enforcement can collect samples for investigation into the fire, he added.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, New Market police station officer-in-charge Shafiqul Gani said the market was handed over to police at around 9:45 in the morning.

Meanwhile, though the New Market is closed a few shops were seen opening ignoring the warnings of the safety workers. No buyer was seen at the shops.

The movement of vehicles in the New Market has started from morning.

A team of police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) led by crime scene unit inspector Murtuza Kabir has been collecting samples from different damaged sections of the New Super Market.

Speaking to newspersons after completing the task at around 10:45 am, he said, “We have collected the samples of different charred sections of the building. The samples will be tested at the forensic lab of CID. Then we can give opinions in this regard.”

It would be inappropriate to comment on anything just by looking at the samples, said Mortuza Kabir in response to a question of a journalist.

A huge fire broke out at New Super Market, adjacent to the New Market in Dhaka, at around 5:40 am Saturday. Army, Navy and Air Force members also joined the fire service men to douse the flames.

Teams of Border Guard Bangladesh, Rapid Action Battalion and police were deployed in the area to keep law and order situation under control.

In a media briefing in front of gate no. 4 of the New Market at around 10:15 am on Saturday, director general of fire service and civil defence directorate Md. Main Uddin said the fire was brought under control at 9:10 am but it will some more time to douse it completely.