2 Bangladeshi women likely among 11 dead in Maldives fire

Two Bangladeshi women could be among 11 people who died in the fire that swept through cramped lodgings of foreign workers in Maldives capital Male.

Another Bangladeshi man was injured in the fire, and he is undergoing treatment at the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital, Bangladesh High Commission First Secretary (Labour) Sohel Parvez told The Daily Star today.

Identity of the deceased or injured could not be known yet, said Sohel Parvez who visited the spot this morning after hearing about the incident.

"We are in touch with Maldives authorities to identify the dead and injured workers," the official said.

According to AFP, the capital of the archipelago best known as an upmarket holiday destination is one of the world's most densely populated cities.

Officials said the dead bodies were recovered from the upper floor of the building destroyed in the fire, which originated from a ground-floor vehicle repair garage.

A fire service official said it took them about four hours to put out the fire.

Maldivian political parties have criticised conditions that foreign workers live in.

They are thought to make up about half of Male's 250,000-strong population and are mostly from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Their poor living conditions were brought to light during the Covid-19 pandemic when the infection spread three times faster among foreign workers compared with locals.