Five Bangladeshis killed, two injured in Maldives workers’ accommodation fire

Five Bangladeshi migrants have been killed and two other compatriots seriously injured in a devastating fire from a suspected gas leak at an expatriate workers’ accommodation unit in Dhigurah in the Maldives.

High Commission of Bangladesh Counsellor (labour) Md Sohel Parvez said the fire broke out as they were cooking Sehri in the wee hours of Friday.

The dead are Taj Uddin Islam, Sadar Ali, Robin Mollah, Shafiqul Islam and Nur Nabi Sarker.

Meanwhile, the survivors -- Jalam Uddin and Saddam Hossain -- are being treated at a hospital in the capital, Male.

Of the total 38 Bangladeshis staying in the accommodation, the rest were asleep during the accident.

Sohel Parvez said: “One of the injured is being treated in the ICU and the other in the emergency department of the hospital.”

A team from the Bangladesh mission immediately went to the scene, he said.

In a social media post, the mission said it had taken necessary measures to repatriate the bodies at the earliest.

Maldives Police Service said the incident was reported around 2am.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission of Maldives has launched an investigation into the deaths.

Many accommodation blocks for expatriate workers are widely seen as unsafe, substandard, and violating basic human rights and dignity, according to local newspaper The Edition.

There have been numerous tragic incidents in such places, leading to injury and even loss of life, it says.

Dhigurah Island Council President Ibrahim Usman told local media: “So far, it is believed that the incident may have occurred due to a gas leak while cooking.

"However, the cause will be confirmed after the police investigation.”