Two children burnt dead in Kushtia

Two siblings were killed in a fire in Daulatpur upazila of Kushtia on Wednesday afternoon as it took too much time to extinguish the fire with no fire service station in the area, reports UNB.

The deceased were identified as Sonia Khatun, 7, and her sister Sumaiya Khatun, 2. They were daughters of Mohammad Dukhi of Dhighalkandi Biswas Para under Rifatpur union of the upazila. Mohammad Dukhi is a day-labourer.

Confirming the fire and death, Sabuj Hossain, an official of Mirpur of Fire Service and Civil Defence, said, “We rushed to the spot to douse the blaze as soon as we got the news.”

However, locals say there is no fire service station in the upazila. Although they contacted the nearby fire station in Mirpur immediately after the fire broke out, the firefighters took so much time to reach the spot in another upazila.

According to the family members, the two sisters were asleep when the fire broke out.

The fire service officials assumed that the fire might have originated from the oven of the house. Another house adjacent to the victim’s house, was also gutted in fire.

Md Jamal, sub-inspector (SI) of Dhighalkandi police outpost, said the bodies had been handed over to the family without any autopsy as no complaints were lodged in connection with the incident.