Narayanganj (TDI): At least 63 students were hospitalised after a fire broke out at an Islamic religious school in Bangladesh’s central Narayanganj district early Tuesday, with four admitted to intensive care in critical condition.
The fire erupted on the second floor of a five-storey building housing Jamiatul Ashrafia Madrasa, located in Narayanganj, around 16 kilometres southeast of the capital, Dhaka, according to fire officials.
Abdullah Al Arefin, deputy assistant director of the Narayanganj Fire Service and Civil Defense, told Anadolu that four firefighting units were dispatched to the scene and brought the blaze under control.
He said most students managed to escape without sustaining burns, although several suffered from smoke inhalation.
The fire originated in the library and office rooms of the madrasa, which has approximately 1,300 students, most of whom live in its residential facilities.
All 63 affected students were taken to the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in Dhaka for medical treatment.
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Resident surgeon Sultan Mahmud Sikdar told local newspaper The Daily Star that four students had been admitted to the intensive care unit in critical condition. One of them had been placed on life support.
According to the doctor, none of the students had suffered burns, but all were experiencing respiratory complications believed to have resulted from inhaling smoke.
A preliminary assessment by the Fire Service indicated that an electrical short circuit may have caused the fire. Authorities have not yet confirmed the exact cause.
The incident has raised concerns over fire safety at the residential educational institution, where a large number of students live and study in the same building.
