Ashulia shoe factory fire doused

The fire that erupted at a factory of Akij Footwear in Narasinghapur in Ashulia on the outskirts of Dhaka city on Sunday afternoon, has been doused. However, no one was injured. Fire service officials said the fire originated on the first floor of the two-storey iron structure shoe factory at about 5:40pm on Sunday. Being informed, 14 firefighing units from Dhamrai, Savar, Abdullahpur and Dhaka EPZ areas and Kaliakoir rushed to the spot and doused the blaze after three hours of hectic efforts around 8:40pm. Fire Service and Civil Defence deputy director Shakil Khan said the fire might have been caused from an electric short-circuit on the first floor of the factory where leather goods, highly inflammable chemicals, resins and other footwear manufacturing materials were kept. No one was reported to be inside the factory as it was closed on the occasion of the Eid-ul-Fitr, said Shakil quoting the factory guards. By the time the firefighters brought the fire under control, the first floor of the two-storey factory was completely gutted while part of the ground floor was also affected. The extent of losses could not yet be ascertained, according to UNB.