Staff Reporter:
The shop owners and employees have been trying to get the goods out of their shops after the fire broke out at New Super Market, next to New Market in the capital on Saturday morning.
But since the fire has not been doused yet, the owners and employees are risking their lives to save their goods.
Some were desperate to enter the market without any kind of protective gear.
Visiting the area the correspondent found that fire service workers and members of other law enforce-ment agencies were helping shop owners and employees to get the goods out.
A shop owner said that there are more than 1000 shops, mostly clothing stores, in the South Building of the market and there are about 500 shops on the second and third floors.
Some traders managed to get their goods out of some shops on the ground floor of the market. One such traders is Asif, whose shop number 246 was located in lane two on the ground floor of the market.
“It was 6:30 am when I came to know that there was a fire in the market. It was impossible for me to shift so many goods alone. I don’t even know the people who were helping me get my belongings out. Without them, it was not possible to save my belongings,” said Asif.
“My shop was on the ground floor. There is no fire there, but due to the heat, it is not possible to stay there for long. Moreover, it is not possible to go there due to the accumulation of hot water on the ground floor,” he added.
Sabbir, a salesman at the North Bangal shop on the second floor of the market, managed to save only a few goods from the charred remains of his store. “Only darkness and smoke inside,” he recounted.
Meanwhile, Shahadat, a firefighter, described the scene as chaotic and dangerous. “The smoke was so thick that many of the firefighters were getting sick, and the fire had spread quickly on the second and third floors of the market.”
