The fire that broke out at Hirur Maar Slum in the city’s Kalshi area of Mirpur early Friday gutted 20 shanties and 40 shops.
Ershad Hossain, a duty officer at the Fire Service and Civil Defense Control room, said the fire originated from an electric short-circuitaround 12:50 am.
Forty shops and 20 shanties of the slum were burned into ashes before the firefighters brought the blaze under control around 1:50am, he said, adding that the incident caused an estimated loss of Tk 1.2 million.
Eleven firefighting units worked frantically to douse the fire and they recovered properties worth to Tk 2 million from the spot, he said.