At least nine people have died after a fire swept through more than 200 slum dwellings in the coastal Bangladeshi city of Chittagong.

Police and firefighters say more than 50 other people were injured.

Four members of one family were among the victims, the Dhaka Tribune reported.

Fire officials are investigating the possibility that a short circuit caused the blaze. Bangladesh has a poor fire safety record.
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Officials said the fire began in the Bhera Market slum at about 03:30 local time (21:30 GMT)

It took about five hours to bring the blaze under control. </s> CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh: A fire tore through a slum in southern Bangladesh on Sunday (Feb 17), killing at least nine people and destroying hundreds of shanty homes, police said.

The blaze broke out in the port city of Chittagong at about 3.30am and raced through the district of bamboo, tin and tarpaulin homes, said local police chief Pranab Chowdhury.

"At least 470 shanties were destroyed by the fire. So far nine people have died. They included four members of a family," fire brigade official Hefazatul Islam told AFP.

Fires regularly break out in Bangladesh's slums, where millions live in squalid living conditions.

Rights groups have in the past alleged some shanty town blazes were deliberate acts of sabotage by developers seeking to free up property to construct multi-storey buildings.

"We have seen fires are used as a weapon to evict poor slum dwellers and squatters from government or private property," rights activist Nur Khan Liton told AFP. </s> CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (Reuters) - A fire gutted more than 200 slum houses in the Bangladeshi port of Chittagong on Sunday, killing at least eight people and injuring more than 50, police and fire fighters said.

A fire official said the fire may have been caused by a short circuit.

Bangladesh is an impoverished country where safety regulations are rarely followed and accidents kill hundreds every year.

In 2013, the Rana Plaza factory collapse killed more than 1,100 garment workers. </s> A devastating blaze has killed at least nine people and injured dozens of others in Bangladesh's southeastern city of Chittagong, according to local officials.

The fire broke out early on Sunday morning and raced through a crowded slum in the port city, which lies some 216 kilometres southeast of the capital, Dhaka, fire official Jasim Uddin told the Associated Press news agency.

"While trying to control the fire, we formed a search team and the team found four dead bodies belonging to the same family," Uddin said.

At least 200 homes, mostly made up of bamboo, tin and tarpaulin, were gutted before firefighters brought the blaze under control about five hours after it started.

Uddin told AP that the cause of the fire was not yet known, and that an investigation into the incident had been ordered.

Fires regularly break out in Bangladesh's slums, where millions of people live in squalid living conditions, and accidents in the South Asian nation kill hundreds of people every year.

Rights groups have alleged some former shanty town blazes were deliberate acts of sabotage by developers seeking to free up property to construct multi-storey buildings.

Rights activist Nur Khan Liton told the AFP news agency on Sunday that fires had been used in the past "as a weapon to evict poor slum dwellers and squatters from government or private property".

There was no immediate evidence that Sunday's fire was intentional. </s> A fire official says a devastating blaze that raced through a crammed slum in southeastern Bangladesh has left at least nine people dead and several others injured.

The official, Jasim Uddin, said the fire broke out early Sunday in the Chaktai area of Chittagong city while the slum dwellers were asleep.

Uddin says four of the dead were from a single family, and that at least 200 shanty homes were gutted before firefighters brought the blaze under control.

He says the cause of the fire is not yet known and an investigation has been ordered.

Chittagong is 216 kilometers (134 miles) southeast of the capital, Dhaka. </s> DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A devastating blaze raced through a crammed slum in southeastern Bangladesh on Sunday, killing at least nine people and injuring several others, a fire official said.

The fire broke out early in the morning in the Chaktai area of Chittagong city while the slum dwellers were asleep, said the official, Jasim Uddin.

At least 200 shanty homes were gutted before firefighters brought the blaze under control, Uddin said, adding that four of the dead were from a single family.

He said the cause of the fire was not yet known and that an investigation was ordered.

Chittagong is 216 kilometers (134 miles) southeast of the capital, Dhaka. </s> Image copyright AFP Image caption Officials say a short circuit may have caused the blaze

At least nine people have died after a fire swept through more than 200 slum dwellings in the coastal Bangladeshi city of Chittagong.

Police and firefighters say more than 50 other people were injured.

Four members of one family were among the victims, the Dhaka Tribune reported.

Fire officials are investigating the possibility that a short circuit caused the blaze. Bangladesh has a poor fire safety record.

Officials said the fire began in the Bhera Market slum at about 03:30 local time (21:30 GMT)

It took about five hours to bring the blaze under control. </s> (CNN) — At least 67 people have been killed and 40 injured after a fire tore through apartment buildings and chemical warehouses in a historic part of the Bangladesh capital Dhaka, according to Mohammed Nurul Islam, a senior official with the Home Affairs Ministry.

The latest such deadly blaze in the south Asian nation broke out Wednesday at 10:30 p.m. local time (11:30 a.m. ET) in Dhaka's Chawkbazar area, a district in old Dhaka with sprawling narrow streets and densely-packed buildings.

Police and fire officials revised down the death toll to 67 on Friday down from 78 on Thursday. Rasem Shikdar, officer with the Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defense, said there were "around 40 people" injured in the fire.

Inspector Morad Dul Islam with the Chawkbazar police said 45 bodies have been identified.

Throughout the night, firefighters battled the blaze, which is believed to have started when a fuel cylinder stored in a car exploded. </s> Criminal case to be filed in Bangladesh fire that killed 25

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A Bangladeshi housing official said Friday criminal charges would be filed against the owner of a building where a fire killed 25 people and which had four upper floors constructed illegally.

Minister for Housing and Public Work S.M. Rezaul Karim also pledged to take action against officials in his ministry if they were guilty of wrongdoing associated with allowing the added floors or other violations.

Raising buildings beyond approved design is rampant in Bangladesh, where the government is seeking fast economic development and the private sector is expanding.

The blaze that burned for several hours Thursday trapped people inside the building, some shouting for help from windows on upper floors and the roof. By Friday morning, no smoke was visible at the FR Tower on a busy avenue in Dhaka's Banani commercial district.

Mostak Ahmed, a deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told The Associated Press on Friday that the death toll rose to 25 with all but one identified. Based on information provided by relatives, no one appeared to still be unaccounted for, he said. "Still we are checking, if someone comes to us we will verify," he said.

The fire injured about 70 people, many of them now being treated at Dhaka Medical College Hospital's burn unit.

The fire was the latest in a country where crowding, flouted building regulations and safety norms have made deadly blazes common.

Last month, a fire in the oldest part of Dhaka, a 400-year-old area cramped with apartments, shops and warehouses, left at least 67 people dead.

In 2012, a fire at a garment factory killed at least 112 people trapped behind its locked gates. Less than six months later, another building containing garment factories collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people.

Another fire in a house illegally storing chemicals in Old Dhaka killed at least 123 people in 2010.
At least nine people die after a fire sweeps through more than 200 slum dwellings in Chittagong, Bangladesh.