Published : 10 Nov 2026, 08:26 PM
Updated : 10 Nov 2026, 08:26 PM
When the fire broke out, at least 12 students were sleeping on the second floor of the five-story Jamia Ashrafia Madrasa building in Narayanganj’s Fatullah. More than 100 other students were asleep on the top three floors of the building. Two more residential buildings at the madrasa – one six stories tall, the other seven- were next door. If the blaze had spread to another building, the situation may have been terrible.
Despite the potential scale of the disaster, this large residential madrasa had no fire safety measures in place. There wasn’t even a fire extinguisher to put out the flames.
Kanchpur Model Fire Station Senior Station Officer Jahangir Alam said, “We did not see any fire safety measures anywhere in the madrasa. There was not even a fire extinguisher. But because there was a store of water next to the building, we did not have to rush to bring the blaze under control.”
Meanwhile, the madrasa’s Nayem-e-Mohtamim (Vice Principal) Atiqur Rahman said that they had never encountered such an incident before and had not thought much about fire safety measures.
He added that the madrasa authorities will now take initiatives to strengthen fire safety measures.
35 People Admitted to Burn Unit
Madrasa students, teachers and Fire Service officials said the fire broke out around 1:30am on Tuesday. The Fire Service received the news at 1:55 am. They started working to extinguish the blaze within 10 minutes and brought the flames under control within half an hour. The fire was completely extinguished around 3:45am.
Although no one was directly burnt by the flames, several students fell ill due to the heat and intense smoke. Eighty-eight of them were taken to the National Institute of Burn & Plastic Surgery in Dhaka. Of them, 53 were discharged after primary care.
The remaining 35 are still undergoing treatment, with four in the intensive care unit (ICU) as their condition is critical, said Sultan Mahmud Shikder, resident surgeon of the hospital.
“One of the students has been put on a mechanical ventilator to provide artificial respiration as his respiratory condition is critical.”
On Tuesday afternoon, State Minister for Health MA Muhit visited the injured students at the hospital.
In response to a question from reporters, he said: “Incidents happen, accidental fires happen. This is a systemic problem of ours. It is not just this madrasa. Whether it is madrasas or private educational institutions – often students rent out places themselves and turn them into hostels.”
“Building regulations must be considered - for what purpose the building is built and for what purpose it is used. We have seen fires in various hotels and restaurants before. These buildings are not designed for hotels and restaurants. If residential buildings are next to major roads, we use them as commercial spaces.”
The state minister said, “Similarly, the madrasa was not designed to be a madrasa. A residence or a similar building has been converted. In this regard, I think we need to focus on building regulations and the systematic policy changes that need to be made.
“Overall, we need to regulate the use of buildings and ensure the beautiful construction of such buildings.”
