Bangladesh resort fire kills 10, including children

The blaze broke out at Tuptup Resto and Resort in Inani and spread through the three-storey wooden building, Syed Mohammad Morshed Hossain, a deputy assistant director of Fire Service and Civil Defence in the district, said. Six of the dead had been identified, with ages reported from five to 33.

Mohammad Atikur Rahman Majumder, chief of Ukhiya Police Station, said emergency crews were called after the fire began at about 6.30am local time. Police also joined the rescue operation. Local fire officials said around 30 people were believed to have been at the resort when the blaze started.

What caused the fire was not immediately clear. In the first hours after a disaster like this, that absence can be as stark as the death toll: a wooden resort, a fast-moving blaze, and officials still unable to say what ignited it.

According to reporting cited by The Mirror, Cox’s Bazar Deputy Commissioner Md A Mannan said a five-member investigation committee headed by the Additional District Magistrate had been formed to determine the cause of the fire.

Hospital officials said the injured were taken for treatment. Sabuktagin Mahmud Sohel, resident medical officer at Cox’s Bazar Sadar Hospital, said five of the casualties had burns covering about 5% of their bodies, according to the reports cited.