Mirpur slum fire hurts woman, burns hundreds of shanties

At least one woman sustained injuries and hundreds of shanties were gutted after a fire broke out in a slum in Mirpur-12 early Monday.

The slum, known as Elias Mollah slum, caught fire around 3:00am.

On information, 23 firefighting units rushed to the slum and doused the blaze at 7:20am after more than four hours of frantic efforts, according to fire service officials and locals.

Fire Service and Civil Defence director (operation and maintenance) major AKM Shakil Newaz told Prothom Alo, ''We have so far heard that one woman has been injured in the incident. She has been rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment.''

The identity of the victim could not be confirmed yet.

Local member of the parliament (MP) Elias Ali Mollah said most of the shanties in the slum were burnt to ashes.

Around 25,000 people used to live in some 7,000-8,000 shanties in the slum.

The reason of the fire, however, could not be known immediately.