88 students in hospital after madrasa blaze

Résumé détaillé

At least 88 students were hospitalised with smoke inhalation after a fire broke out at a residential madrasa in Fatullah early yesterday. Four of them are in critical condition…

At least 88 students were hospitalised with smoke inhalation after a fire broke out at a residential madrasa in Fatullah early yesterday. Four of them are in critical condition and receiving treatment at the intensive care unit (ICU), doctors said.

The critically ill students are Yusuf, 18, Khairul, 22, Jobayer, 18, and another student named Yusuf, 18, said Sultan Mahmud Sikder, resident surgeon at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in Dhaka.

Of the 88 students, 53 were discharged after treatment while the remaining 35 are still receiving treatment at the hospital.

The fire broke out around 1:45am at Jamiatul Ashrafia Madrasa in the Shantidhara area of Bhuighar, said Abdullah Al Arefin, deputy assistant director of Narayanganj Fire Service and Civil Defence.

He said the fire originated in the library and office rooms on the second floor of the five-storey building.

Five fire engines brought the blaze under control in about 30 minutes and fully extinguished it around 3:45am.

“About 1,300 students study at the madrasa, most of them residential. They were all asleep when the fire broke out. Many suffered from smoke inhalation, and several were taken to hospital,” Arefin said.

The fire service suspects an electrical short circuit, but the exact cause will be determined after an investigation, he added.

Jahangir Alam, senior station officer of Kanchpur Model Fire Station, told The Daily Star, “We did not find any fire safety measures anywhere in the madrasa. There was not even a fire extinguisher. However, as there was a water storage facility beside the building, we did not face much difficulty in bringing the fire under control.”

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