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Shahidul's dreams were shattered within a matter of minutes as three of his shops burned down in the massive fire that broke out at Dhaka's Bangabazar Market earlier on Tuesday.
"I came here around 6:30am only to see the fire engulfing the whole market. The firefighting units are trying to bring the fire under control but haven't yet managed to do so," Shahidul lamented at Government Employee's Hospital.
"I had some hope that the firefighting units would be able to save Annex Tower where my shop and two warehouses are located but the fire engulfed it also," he said.
Shahiful, hailing from Shahrasti upazila of Chandpur district, opened his shop at Phulbaria Bangabazar Market in 1991. Later, he became the owner of three more shops.
He claimed that he purchased goods worth Tk 8 crore for his four shops ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, but the fire turned everything into ash.
"I could not imagine that I would lose everything before Eid," said Shahidul.
Like Shahidul and Moinuddin, another businessman and owner of Dolon Garment store in the market, said, "Everything has been lost."
"I failed to do business for the last two years due to Covid-19. During this period, I faced a loss of several lakhs of taka. This year, I hoped that I will be able to make up for the losses but the fire has ruined everything."
"I can't continue my business anymore," he said.
A massive fire broke out at Bangabazar Market this morning. 48 firefighting units are still working to extinguish the blaze.
