Over 50 shops gutted as fire tears through Narsingdi market

Thirteen stores devastated by the fire sold gold and jewellery, traders say

A fire has ripped through a market in the Muripatti area of Narsingdi’s Madhabdi Bazar, burning down over 50 stores.

The fire sparked around 5am on Friday and was eventually extinguished by five firefighting units around 10am, according to Raihan Ahmed, station officer for the Madhabdi Fire Station.

Local traders say that the blaze was reported using the megaphones at the large mosque at Madhabdi, prompting those traders who lived nearby to rush to the spot to try and douse the flames. However, the fire seemed to spread instantaneously from one end of the market to the other.

Five firefighting units from the Madhabdi, Narsingdi and Palash Fire Services eventually joined the fire extinguishing effort.

Witnesses say that the Fire Service took nearly two hours to reach the scene, eventually arriving around 7am and finally managing to put out the blaze completely around 10am.

The traders say that the fire gutted more than 50 shops, including stores selling gold, groceries, beauty products, plastics, and electronics. The damage is estimated at tens of millions of taka.

The traders claim the fire started at a store that sold gold and jewellery, but the exact store and the cause of the fire have yet to be confirmed.

Fire Service official Raihan said that firefighters began work at the scene soon after the fire was reported.

No loss of life has been reported so far, and details regarding the cause of the fire will be uncovered after an investigation, he added.