DHAKA: A devastating fire in a crowded slum int the heart of Bangladesh’s capital has destroyed 1,500 shanties, leaving thousands homeless, authorities said Wednesday.
No casualties have been reported.
The blaze, which began Tuesday evening at the massive Korail slum in Dhaka, was doused Wednesday after 16 hours, said Rashed Bin Khalid, a duty officer at the Department of Fire Service and Civil Defense.
The fire service’s director, Lt. Col. Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury, said about 1,500 shanties were burned or damaged in the blaze and thousands remained homeless.
According to official data, about 60,000 families — many of them climate refugees — live in the slum which has an area of more than 160 acres (65 hectares). The slum straddles Dhaka’s upscale Gulshan and Banani neighborhoods, and it is surrounded by clusters of high-rise apartment and office buildings.
Heavy smoke blanketed the area as flames engulfed the dwellings overnight.
On Wednesday, the residents who lost their homes were desperate to collect their valuables as they scoured the debris.
The firefighters said they struggled to reach the area because of narrows alleys.
Dhaka, a city of 10.2 million as of 2024, has hundreds of slums where people from rural Bangladesh migrate to because of poverty and exploitation. Climate-induced disasters also push them to the city slums, where they live on daily labor such as driving rickshaws and working as housemaids and cleaners.
A devastating fire destroys a crowded slum and leaves thousands homeless in Bangladesh capital
https://arab.news/mh4br
A devastating fire destroys a crowded slum and leaves thousands homeless in Bangladesh capital
- The blaze, which began Tuesday evening at the massive Korail slum in Dhaka, was doused Wednesday after 16 hours
- About 60,000 families — many of them climate refugees — live in the slum
Venezuela swears in 5,600 troops after US military build-up
- American forces have carried out deadly strikes on more than 20 vessels, killing at least 87
CARACAS: The Venezuelan army swore in 5,600 soldiers on Saturday, as the United States cranks up military pressure on the oil-producing country.
President Nicolas Maduro has called for stepped-up military recruitment after the United States deployed a fleet of warships and the world’s largest aircraft carrier to the Caribbean under the pretext of combating drug trafficking.
American forces have carried out deadly strikes on more than 20 vessels, killing at least 87.
Washington has accused Maduro of leading the alleged “Cartel of the Suns,” which it declared a terrorist organization last month.
Maduro asserts the American deployment aims to overthrow him and seize the country’s oil reserves.
“Under no circumstances will we allow an invasion by an imperialist force,” Col. Gabriel Rendon said Saturday during a ceremony at Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela’s largest military complex, in Caracas.
According to official figures, Venezuela has around 200,000 troops and an additional 200,000 police officers.
A former opposition governor died in prison on Saturday where he had been detained on charges of terrorism and incitement, a rights group said.
Alfredo Diaz was at least the sixth opposition member to die in prison since November 2024.
They had been arrested following protests sparked by last July’s disputed election, when Maduro claimed a third term despite accusations of fraud.
The protests resulted in 28 deaths and around 2,400 arrests, with nearly 2,000 people released since then.
Diaz, governor of Nueva Esparta from 2017 to 2021, “had been imprisoned and held in isolation for a year; only one visit from his daughter was allowed,” said Alfredo Romero, director of the NGO Foro Penal, which defends political prisoners.
The group says there are at least 887 political prisoners in Venezuela.
Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado condemned the deaths of political prisoners in Venezuela during “post-electoral repression.”
“The circumstances of these deaths — which include denial of medical care, inhumane conditions, isolation, torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment — reveal a sustained pattern of state repression,” Machado said in a joint statement with Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, the opposition candidate she believes won the election.
