Devastating fire leaves thousands homeless in Dhaka’s Korail shantytown

A devastating occurrence swept done Dhaka’s sprawling Korail shantytown, destroying oregon damaging immoderate 1,500 shanties and reducing tin-roofed dwellings to smouldering ruins, officials reported.

The inferno, which erupted connected Tuesday evening, required 16 hours to extinguish, according to Rashed Bin Khalid, a work serviceman astatine the occurrence department.

Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury, the occurrence service’s director, confirmed astir 1,500 shanties were burned oregon damaged, leaving thousands without shelter.

Official records bespeak astir 60,000 families — galore displaced by clime disasters — inhabit this 65-hectare (160-acre) shantytown. Korail sits adjacent to Dhaka’s affluent Gulshan and Banani districts, surrounded by modern high-rise developments.

Dense fume enveloped the country arsenic flames consumed dwellings passim the night.

By Wednesday, displaced residents desperately sifted done debris, attempting to salvage their belongings.

Firefighters reported trouble accessing the blaze owed to the area’s constrictive pathways.

Dhaka, location to 10.2 cardinal radical arsenic of 2024, contains hundreds of informal settlements populated by agrarian migrants fleeing poverty, exploitation, and climate-related calamities. Those surviving determination typically past connected regular wages earned arsenic rickshaw drivers, housemaids, and cleaners.