Six die in Uttara apartment fire

Six people, including members of two families, were killed in a fire that broke out early Friday on the second floor of a seven-storey residential building in Uttara, Dhaka. Police suspect the blaze originated in the kitchen, possibly from a gas connection or an electrical short circuit.

According to Fire Service and Civil Defence, they received the emergency call at 7:50am from a building on Road No. 18 in Sector 11. Two fire service units rushed to the scene, bringing the fire under control by 8:25am and fully extinguishing it around 10:00am.

Firefighters recovered three bodies from the building, while 13 others were rescued and taken to nearby hospitals. Uttara West Police Station Officer-in-Charge Kazi Mohammad Rafiqul Ahmed later confirmed that three more victims died during treatment, raising the death toll to six.
One of the families included Kazi Fazle Rabbi Rizvi (38), his wife Afroza Akter Suborna (37) and their two-year-old son Kazi Faiyaz Rishan. Rabbi worked at SKF Pharmaceuticals, while Suborna was employed by Square Pharmaceuticals. Their elder son survived as he was staying at his maternal grandmother's house at the time of the fire.

Doctors said none of the three showed visible burn injuries, leading authorities to believe they died from suffocation caused by smoke inhalation. Their bodies are currently at different hospitals in the city.

The other victims were Md Haris Uddin (52), his son Md Rahab (17) and Haris's niece Rodela Akter (14), hailing from Ishwarganj in Mymensingh. Their bodies are also being kept at separate hospitals.

Police said the exact cause of the fire would be determined after a detailed investigation by the fire service. "The fire may have started from a gas connection or an electrical short circuit, but we cannot confirm it yet," the OC said.