Slum fire leaves nearly 3,000 homeless in Bangladesh

A fire raced through a slum in the Bangladeshi capital early today, destroying about 700 huts and leaving nearly 3,000 people homeless.

No casualties were reported in the blaze in Dhaka’s western Rayerbazar district, said fire brigade official Abdus Salam.

However, ATN Bangla, a private television station, reported that at least 20 people were slightly injured as they ran for shelter in panic.

Most people in the overcrowded slum were asleep when the fire broke out, apparently originating from a kitchen oven at a shanty, the fire official said.

The fire quickly engulfed the slum, where rickshaw drivers and other poor people live in huts fashioned from bamboo and plastic sheets, Salam said.

He said firefighters, backed by 10 vehicles, took more than three hours to bring the blaze under control.