‘I couldn’t save anything of my Tk 1.5 crore investment’

"I couldn't save any product of my three stores. The fire has destroyed everything I had there," said Mohammad Rafiqul Islam Sohag, owner of clothing shops at Banga Islamia Super Market.

"I don't know how I will survive."

Sohag said he owned shops number 6, 15 and 58 situated on the ground floor of the market.

The young businessman was standing in front of his shops, which were burnt into ashes, to check whether anything is left of the Tk 1.5 crore worth of clothes he had there for the upcoming Eid-u-Fitr.

"The fire has destroyed everything that I have earned in my whole life," the 27-year-old businessman said with a vacant look on face.

Sohag, a wholesaler of readymade shirts, said he had taken over Tk 41 lakh in loans from a bank and a private institution to purchase new goods for the Eid.

"I came to know about the fire at around 7am and none of my shops were insured," said the breadwinner of his family.

A devastating fire started taking toll on Bangabazar Shopping Complex in the early morning and it has burnt more than Tk 1,000 crore worth of investment into ashes, said the president of the Bangladesh Dokan Malik Samity, the apex trade body of shop owners.

The massive fire which began this morning at the capital's iconic clothing market was brought under control at 12:36pm after over six hours.