17 houses, fuel shop gutted in Ctg

At least 17 houses and a petroleum oil shop were gutted in three separate fire incidents in Rangunia and Boalkhali upazilas of Chittagong district and Bakalia area in the port city on Thursday and Friday. In Boalkhali, seven houses were burnt down in a fire that erupted in Kanungopara area around 2:00am on Thursday. Affected Kamal Uddin said the fire originated from an electric short circuit. The blaze was estimated to have caused losses worth Tk 0.8 million. Locals managed to douse the flame around 3:00am by the time a fire fighting unit from Patiya arrived. In another incident, 10 houses were gutted in Safarbhata area of Rangunia. Losses in the fire were assessed at Tk 0.5 million. Fire Service Control Room cited electric short circuit to be the origin of the blaze. In Bakalia area of the city, a petroleum oil shop was damaged in a fire incident that took place in Akmal Ali Road on Friday morning. The blaze caused losses amounting to Tk one hundred thousand. Md Jasim Uddin, deputy assistant director of Chittagong Fire Service, confirming the incidents said the extent of losses from the fires was estimated at total Tk 1.4 million, according to UNB.