We are shocked and saddened at the loss of lives after a fire quickly tore through a slum named Mollabari slum adjacent to FDC gate in the city’s Karwan Bazar area in the wee hours of Saturday.
At least two people were killed and several others injured in the fire. According to Fire Service and Civil Defence media cell officials, 13 fire-fighting units rushed to the spot and doused the blaze around 3.40am, which broke out at around 2:25am. However, they could not trace the actual reason behind the fire.
Thousands of people are living under the open sky without food, shelter and clothes in a cold-hit city following the fire. In the visuals emerging from the site, huge flames coupled with thick columns of black smoke were seen billowing out of the slum at the dead of the night.
The Saturday’s terrible inferno again raised questions about emergency services and safety measures. Apart from slum, most of the buildings, offices, courts, schools, colleges, universities, institutions, shopping malls, recreation centres, cinemas, industries and other structures still remain out of the fire fighting and extinguishing systems.
Thousands of people are living
under the open sky without food,
shelter and clothes in a cold-hit
city following the fire
But the authorities concerned responsible for ensuring fire extinguishing system in every structure, have not taken any effective initiative to this end yet. Most of the time, the fire fighters could not rescue people due to lack of narrow lane, any convenient place where people could gather. When such a terrible fire or any other deadly accident occurs, administrations come up with various measures and promise that they would do everything in the future to avert any accident. But before long the accidents become simply the statistics and the authorities remain silent.
As they are not paying attention to this serious issue, such fatalities are increasing day by day. We people do not like to see the repetition of such tragic fire incident that continue taking its tolls in the capital city of Dhaka and ruining many families within moments.
Such death is causing an irreparable loss to every family of the victims. It was a heartrending scenario when relatives of fire victims were gathering at the affected slum to know the fates of their nearest and dearest ones.
We are urging the government and social organisations to come forward in aid of the victims of Saturday’s fire at a slum in the Karwan Bazar. This devastating fire incident is very painful as such horrific fire incidents continued causing loss of lives and properties due to negligence.