Hundreds of firefighters were fighting Tuesday, April 3 in Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, against a gigantic fire that raged in a popular clothing market, asphyxiating the old quarters of the city with black smoke.
No casualties have been reported so far, but shop owners and fire officials said the famous Bongo Bazar market, and three other smaller markets around it, had been almost completely destroyed by fire .
Firefighters try to extinguish the gigantic fire declared in a clothing market, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, April 4, 2023. - / AFP
Bangladeshi army deployed
“
Some 600 firefighters (…) are working to bring the fire under control
,” Rakibul Islam, a spokesman for the fire brigade, told AFP, adding that the fire broke out around six in the morning on Tuesday. (midnight, Paris time) and was still raging at the end of the morning.
Firefighters and even the army were dispatched to the scene of the gigantic fire declared in a clothing market, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on April 4, 2023. ABDUL GONI / AFP
Army, Navy and Air Force crews had been deployed to help bring the blaze under control, according to military authorities.
"
A Bangladesh Air Force helicopter also joined in the firefighting efforts
," a military spokesman said.
A Bangladeshi Air Force helicopter tries to extinguish the gigantic fire declared in a clothing market, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on April 4, 2023. ABDUL GONI / AFP
Traders in shock
Shop owners, in shock, in tears and sitting on the pavement, desperate to see their last chance go up in smoke to collect stocks of clothes they had planned to sell for Eid, the most important Muslim holiday in the year.
“
I lost everything.
I borrowed 1.5 million takas ($14,200) to buy Eid clothes
,” the shop owner said in tears.
Bongo Bazar is one of the main markets in Dhaka where clothes, produced for major Western brands in factories in Bangladesh and rejected at quality control, are sold at ridiculous prices.
A man watches firefighters attempt to put out the gigantic fire that broke out in a clothing market in Dhaka, Bangladesh, April 4, 2023. MOHAMMAD PONIR HOSSAIN / REUTERS