Six of a family perish in fire

Six members of a family, including four children, were killed in a fire at a house of Ashrayan project in Sunamganj's Dharmapasha upazila early yesterday.

The victims are Emarul Miah, 50, his wife Poli Akther, 35, and children Polash, 12, Farhad, 9, Fatema, 7, and Omor Faruk, 3, of Shimerkhal village.

Locals said they could see the blaze around 12:30am.

Md Gias Uddin, upazila nirbahi officer of Dharmapasha, said, "The village is in a remote area that have no proper road communications. We were informed of the incident at night but went to the spot in the morning."

"Locals informed us that a neighbour first saw the house was on fire. They broke open the door that was locked from inside, but they could not enter the house amid the raging blaze. They doused the flames with water from a nearby river and found all six members of the family were burnt to death."

The UNO said they asked the forensic unit of Criminal Investigation Department to collect evidence from the scene. "We are not sure what caused the fire, but we are investigating the incident."

Emarul had no family issues or enemy, said his brother-in-law Monir Miah of the same village.

According to the upazila administration, the Ashrayan project in Shimerkhal village having 34 houses was completed in 2021.