Fire in Ctg colony kills two

A mother and her daughter were burned alive and 10 houses gutted in a fire that broke out at a colony in Kolshi Dighirpar of Chattogram’s Middle Halishahar yesterday night.

In another incident, two journalists sustained burns in a fire after an explosion at a shop in the capital’s Moghbazar yesterday. 

In Chattogram, the dead were Sheuli Akhter, 35, wife of Kalu Miah, and her six-and-a-half-year-old daughter Lamia Akhter, said Sub-Inspector Abdur Rahim Miah of Middle Halishahar Police outpost.

“The fire broke out at Haider Colony around 7:30pm. Four units of firefighters rushed there and brought the fire under control after an hour,” he said.

The fire broke out after a gas cylinder exploded in Sheuli’s house. It spread to other parts soon, said the SI, adding valuables worth Tk 22 lakh were gutted in the incident.

In Moghbazar, the two injured journalists are Fazlul Haque Shaon, 50, special correspondent of Jagonews, and Mostofa Manwar Sujan, 42, a news editor at SATV. They were admitted to the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Shaon told journalists that the explosion in the shop took place when one of them tried to switch on a light.

Officer-in-Charge of Ramna police station Kazi Mainul Haque said, “The two own the fast food shop, which had been closed for around 10-12 days. We suspect that gas had accumulated in the shop, leading to the explosion.”

Shaon sustained burns to 24 percent of his body and Mostofa 11 percent, an on-duty doctor at the burn unit of DMCH told The Daily Star.

Our CU correspondent contributed to this report.