DHAKA, Bangladesh

A devastating fire in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka burnt down over 100 shanties on Sunday evening, officials and locals said.

“Primarily we came to know that nearly 150 houses have been damaged due to the fire,” local police station chief Pralay Kumar Shaha told Anadolu Agency.

He added that an investigation committee with members of the Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defense has been formed to dig out the cause of the fire.

“On the basis of preliminary information and statements of locals we are predicting that the fire might have originated from cooking stove,” Shaha added.

According to Fire Service and Civil Defense control room, a total of nine units were able to control the blaze through a hectic effort of one-and-half hours.

Local police chief, however, added that no casualties have been reported as “people were able to shift to nearby safe places since the incident took place in day time.”

But a large number of properties were damaged as most of the houses burnt to ashes, Md. Jamal Uddin, an eyewitness and nearby local, told Anadolu Agency.

The overcrowded South Asian country of 165 million people is marked by deadly fire every year.

According to official data by the Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defense, only in 2019 fire incidents caused a property damage of more than 3.30 billion Bangladeshi taka (approximately $40M) across the country.

At least 184 people died and 560 other were wounded in those fire incidents, data shows.

Besides, more than 26 massive fires in country’s different industries killed at least 2,000 laborers and general people in the last two decades, local daily Jugantor reported on Saturday, citing the International Labor Organization and other agencies.