A fire has broken out at Korail slum in the capital’s Tejgaon area on Tuesday evening.
Fire Service and Civil Defence reported that the fire started at 5:19pm. 20 units of the Fire Service were dispatched and are currently working to bring the fire under control.
Fire Service control room Duty Officer, Rashed Bin Khalid, stated that, due to traffic congestion, water tankers needed to be stationed far away, and the tankers that had managed to get closer had run out of water.
For this reason, water is currently being supplied by via generators from the canal, he added.
Prior to this, the last fire in this slum occurred on the night of 22 February, during which 10 units of the Fire Service were required to bring the fire under control. 61 homes were found to have been destroyed in the aftermath.
Two months prior, on 18 December 2024, Korail would be the victim of another fire, which would require seven Fire Service units to bring it under control.
According to various research reports, this slum, one of the oldest in Dhaka, spans approximately 90 acres, with at least 80,000 people residing within its perimetre. Due to narrow alleyways and congested housing, the Fire Service faces significant challenges in extinguishing fires that break out in the slum.
