A massive fire gutted at least 50 shops in Khulna city’s Picture Palace supermarket early Wednesday.
According to the fire service, the blaze started in one of the shops around 5:40 am and quickly spread to nearby stores.
Nine firefighting units from multiple stations rushed to the scene and managed to bring the flames under control after about an hour and a half of effort. However, the cause of the fire and the full extent of the damages are yet to be determined.
The fire destroyed shops selling cosmetics, clothes, shoes, bags, and other products.
Kotwali police station’s Officer-in-Charge Hawladar Sanowar Hossain Masum stated that authorities visited the site, but it remains unclear whether the fire was an accident or an act of sabotage.
Many affected traders, who had been running businesses in the market for the past year, expressed devastation as they had invested heavily ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr.
