More than 50 shops have been gutted in a massive fire at Madhabdi Bazaar in Narsingdi. The fire broke out at around 5 am on Friday (July 4).
The matter was confirmed by Madhabadi Fire Service Station Officer and Station In-charge Md. Raihan.

Local businessmen and eyewitnesses said the fire was so fierce that it spread from one end of the market to the other in an instant. After about 2 hours of relentless efforts by the fire service, the fire was brought under control at around 7 am and completely extinguished at around 10 am.

Traders claim that at least fifty shops have been burnt down. Among them, 13 are gold shops. The damage caused by the fire is estimated to be several crores of taka. Traders believe that the fire may have started from a gold shop. However, it is not yet confirmed which shop started the fire and what caused it.

The owner of the affected Shahadat store said that the shops were burnt to ashes in an instant. He suffered a loss of about 3.5 million taka, including cash.

Suman, the owner of the affected Messrs. Suman Enterprises, said, "By the time the news came, everything had been burnt to ashes. I have suffered a loss of about 1 million taka. When I arrived, I saw that the fire service was in a water shortage. They started working again with dirty water from the river."

Madhabdi Fire Service Station Officer Raihan Ahmed said, "The Madhabdi Fire Service started working immediately after receiving the information around 5 am. Later, a total of five units, including units from Narsingdi and Palash, joined and were able to completely extinguish the fire around 10 am. No casualties were reported in the accident. However, it is believed that the fire started from a short circuit in the gold shop.

He also said that there were more than 2,000 shops around the place where the fire broke out. According to our calculations, 13 gold shops, including fifty shops, were burnt down. The other shops had various products including plastics, groceries, electronics. The partitions in the small shops were made of boards or tin, so the fire spread quickly. The real cause of the fire will be known after the investigation.