Shahin Chaklader’s hotel charred in Jashore, 21 including a foreigner killed

People from the victory march vandalized and torched a five-star hotel owned by Jashore district Awami League’s general secretary Shahin Chaklader. Some protesters poured petrol on the ground floor of the multi-storied building. As of Tuesday morning, at least 21 charred bodies were recovered from the hotel.

One of the victims is a citizen of Indonesia. Some bodies were recovered from the bar of the hotel on the second floor. Some witnesses said people stranded inside the building died during the looting.

Students and the general people brought out a victory procession in Jashore city immediately after Sheikh Hasina resigned from the post of prime minister. Some people from the procession started vandalizing Zabeer International Hotel at Chitra intersection. Around 4:00pm, the hotel was set on fire. The situation was brought under control around 9:00pm.

The bodies are kept at Jashore General Hospital morgue.

Hospital’s caretaker Harun or Rashid told Prothom Alo this morning, ‘A total of 20 bodies were recovered till 11:00pm Monday. Moreover, one under treatment at the hospital died. The Indonesian embassy has been collecting information about the killed Indonesian citizen.’

Relatives of the victims took some bodies without autopsy.

A person on condition of anonymity said, ‘My nephew (17) died in the inferno. My daughter was also in the hotel. I hurriedly left the hotel with my daughter. Many from the procession went upstairs. Many of them were stranded and died.’

Maruf Hossain, an HSC examinee of Jashore City College, who was among the protesters, said, ‘Some of our protesters were unruly. They entered inside the hotel alongside the protesters. We mainly went to see the hotel. But those unruly boys went upstairs by staircase. Some of them torched the hotel. As a result, some of my friends got stranded and got charred.’
Jashore’s deputy commissioner Mohammad Abarul Hasan Majumder did not want to make any comment on the issue.

Hotel’s owner Shahin Chaklader could not be reached over phone.