Fire at Mohakhali Sattola slum

Around 100 shanties and small makeshift shops were destroyed in a fire that broke out at the ‘Sattola Bosti’ in Dhaka’s Mohakhali on late Monday night.

The fire, which occurred at around 11:45pm, was brought under control at around 00:55am, duty officer of fire service headquarters control room Mahfus Riven told UNB.

It took 12 firefighting units to extinguish the flame at around 2:55am, he said adding that at least 98 semi-pucca shanties and small makeshift shops were gutted in the fire.

The cause of the fire and extent of damage could not be known immediately. However, no casualty was reported, the fire service officer said.

Photos and footages from the site during the fire incident showed the area covered in thick black smoke as volunteers and firefighters scrambled to extinguish the pockets of flames.

Fires at slums in Dhaka, home to many low-income people, are quite common and leave thousands of their residents homeless.

According to data compiled by Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence, there were 174 fire incidents at slums in Dhaka, Chattogram and Rangpur last year.