‘Couldn’t save anything’

"I could not save a single product from any of my three stores as the fire gutted everything," said Mohammad Rafiqul Islam Sohag, who operated apparel outlets at the Banga Islamia Super Market in Dhaka's Gulistan area.

"Now, I don't know how I will survive," he added.

Sohag owned shops number 6, 15 and 58 on the ground floor of the market, which was severely damaged by a devastating fire that ripped through Bangabazar Complex yesterday morning.

The 27-year-old businessman was found standing in front his shops, where nothing remained of the Tk 1.5 crore worth of clothes he had hoped to sell for upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr celebrations.

"The fire destroyed everything I earned throughout my life in one fell swoop," he said with a vacant look on his face.

Aside from investing his own savings, Sohag had taken loans of more than Tk 41 lakh from a bank and multipurpose cooperative to purchase clothing for this year's Eid market.

Making matters worse, none of his shops were insured.

"I only came to know about the fire at around 7:00am," added Sohag, who is the sole breadwinner of his family.

The fire, which broke out at around 6:00am, burned about Tk 1,000 crore worth of investment to ashes, said Md Helal Uddin, president of the Bangladesh Dokan Malik Samity.

The massive fire at the iconic clothing market was finally brought under control some six hours later at 12:36pm.