The fire in Sat Tala slum in Dhaka’s Mohakhali area early Monday possibly occurred due to illegal gas and electricity connections there, said Brigadier General Sazzad Hossain, director-general of the Fire Service and Civil Defense.
“There are a huge number of illegal gas and electricity connections. We believe one of these caused the fire,” he said to reporters on Monday while visiting the slum area.
"We got the news of the fire at 3:59am. Within 13 minutes our first unit arrived at the scene and the fire was brought under control at 6.35am,” Brig Gen Sazzad added.
Adding that no casualties had been reported so far, he said there were a lot of tin-shed houses in the slum, which is why the firefighters had a hard time putting out the fire. 18 units were set up to control the blaze.
The devastating fire razed several hundred shanties in Sat Tala Slum in Dhaka’s Mohakhali area to the ground in the early hours on Monday.
The incident of fire is frequent in the slum, where thousands of low-income people live.
According to a study by International Breastfeeding Journal, Sat Tala slum has nearly 6500 households.
About 500 to 600 shanties were turned to ash in a fire in the same slum in November 2020. Earlier in December 2016, more than 100 shanties were burned in another fire at the same slum.
At least 32 shanties were destroyed and some people were injured in a fire at this slum in May 2015, according to reports.
