Maleka Market fire probably caused by short circuit: fire service
An electrical short circuit most likely caused the fire in Maleka Market in the capital's Bangabazar area this morning, the fire service said.
Speaking to reporters near the spot, Lt Col Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury, director (operations and maintenance) of Fire Service and Civil Defence, also said that the market's Rajuk and fire safety licences were missing.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. "The fire broke out in the third floor of the six-storey Maleka Market next to Barishal Plaza. Ten units were able to bring the fire under control in less than an hour," he said.
The fire was reported at a storage area on the third floor of the market at 8:05am.
"We are currently removing all the goods from inside. Although the exact cause of the fire is unknown, a short circuit is believed to have started the fire. We will be able to definitively determine how the fire started after the investigation," he said.
Tajul Islam added, "This market's Rajuk licence and fire safety licence were both missing. We called the owners of this building and surrounding buildings. Since accidents are occurring one after another, we want to evaluate and inspect the state of the nearby buildings.
"We'll find out how risky they [the buildings] are. They [businessmen] will then be able to conduct activities. We'll soon be performing it [inspection].
"Give us a chance to conduct the assessments; after that, you run the business. We aren't shutting down business, but we do want to identify the issues. We will check because the fire incidents are happening one after another within a short period," he told the traders.