A massive fire tore through Korail Slum, the capital’s largest informal settlement and home to thousands of climate migrants, on Tuesday evening, destroying rows of tin-built houses as firefighters struggled for hours to bring the blaze under control.
The first alert reached authorities at 5:22 pm, but by 10:00 pm, 19 Fire Service units were still battling the flames. Most structures in the settlement appeared to have been reduced to ashes, officials said, with the scale of damage and the cause of the fire yet to be confirmed.
“Traffic congestion and severe water shortages created the biggest obstacles,” said Shahjahan Sikder, an official from the Fire Service media unit. “It took five hours and we still could not control the fire because we lacked water. We had to install generators by the canal to pump water.”
Firefighters reported that water tankers could not reach the area due to gridlock, and nearby trucks ran dry as the blaze spread rapidly through the densely packed neighbourhood. Crews set up multiple pumps along the lakeside to draw water through improvised pipes.
Korail, a 90-acre settlement bordering Gulshan and Banani, is frequently hit by fires. Blazes were reported there earlier this year and twice last year, underscoring the precarious conditions in a slum of an estimated 10,000 homes where tightly clustered dwellings and narrow lanes leave little room for emergency access.
Police were deployed to control crowds as panicked residents tried to salvage belongings before flames engulfed their homes. Officers later restricted entry to prevent injuries and kept residents at a distance from the burning structures.
Many families escaped with nothing. Sitting on the roadside in tears, Tasfia Begum said she could not retrieve a single item. “I worked so hard to buy things, and everything is gone,” she said. Another resident, Solaiman, said he managed to save only a television. Schoolchildren told reporters their books and bags had burned.
Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury of Fire Service and Civil Defence said nearly 20 units were on site but faced “major limitations from the start.” “Our vehicles could not enter. Pipes were patched together. There was pushing and pulling among residents, and even pipes were detached,” he said.
He added that crews took 35 minutes to reach the scene. “Had we arrived on time, the fire would not have spread this far,” he said, estimating that the blaze might be controlled within one to two hours.
Korail is a major refuge for climate migrants displaced by floods, river erosion and cyclones in coastal districts. For many, the fire marked yet another chapter of loss in a community already living on the edge.
At midnight fire service said that the fire was brought under control .
