350 houses, shops gutted at Bandarban

According to an initial estimate, properties worth around Tk 5 crore were damaged in the fire.

The affected people are living under the open sky.

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Eyewitnesses said the fire originated from a makeshift house of one Bidhan Chandra Karmakar at about 2:00am and soon engulfed the entire market and the village.

Members of the army, police and locals joined hands to bring the fire under control after struggling for five hours.

Two fire service vehicles from Bandarban moved towards Ruma Bazar but they had to stay four kilometres away from the bazar as there was no bridge over the Shankha river.

Officials of the district and upazila administration have visited the spot while the army provided medical treatment and distributed cooked food among the affected people.

A similar fire broke out two years ago in the same market and nearby Adivasi village located 50 kilometres away from the district headquarters.

The ill-fated poor people could rebuild their houses only a few days ago.

Although there had been frequent incidents of fire at Lamar Kumari, Boangchhari, Naikhangchhari and Ruma, none of these upazilas has its own fire service station.