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The photo shows the charred remains of a room at Tuptup Resort in Inani, Cox’s Bazar, on Sunday. Daily sun Photo
At around 6:40am on Saturday, local resident and photographer Md Minhaj arrived near Tuptup Resort in Patuartek, Ukhiya, Cox’s Bazar, and noticed smoke rising from the building.
“I rushed over and saw the kitchen on fire. Resort staff tried to put it out with buckets of water, but the flames spread quickly. Then a gas cylinder in the kitchen exploded, engulfing the entrance in flames,” he said.
The fire broke out in a kitchen beside the ground-floor restaurant, through which guests had to pass to reach the reception, Minhaj said.
A narrow wooden corridor led from there to a single staircase serving the upper floors, where the guest rooms were located. As the fire spread, escaping the three-storey building became extremely difficult, he said.
“After the first cylinder exploded, a woman managed to get out through the flames. Her feet were on fire. Shortly afterwards, a second cylinder exploded,” Minhaj said.
The flames then engulfed the only staircase, cutting off the main escape route. Some guests survived by breaking windows and jumping into a pond behind the resort, he added.
Staff struggled to use extinguishers
Ishrat Jahan Ima, who was staying at the resort with two friends, Ireen Jahan Mim and Nasrin Akter Mukta, was another eyewitness.
Ima and Mim had gone for a walk on Saturday morning, leaving Mukta at the resort. When they returned, they found the three-storey building on fire.
“As we reached the reception, we saw sparks coming from the kitchen next to it. I immediately told a security guard to get everyone out. He was running around with a fire extinguisher but could not even remove the pin,” Ima said.
Other staff members also struggled to operate extinguishers, she said. Within moments, the wooden reception wall caught fire, and flames engulfed the nearby staircase, cutting off the route between the upper and lower floors.
Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD) Chattogram Deputy Director Md Taufiqul Islam Bhuiyan said establishments of this kind must have portable fire extinguishers, alarms, hosepipes and a fire safety plan.
“But the resort had none of these. It also had no fire licence. The resort was built only seven to eight months ago,” he said.
Four members of Dhaka family remain missing
Four members of a family from Dhaka remained missing after the fire, with relatives fearing they had died in the blaze.
They were Nahidur Rahman, 41, a marketing executive at a private company; his wife, Afsana Matin Tanji, 36; and their daughters, Ruzaina Inaya, 6, and Sunaina Ihana, 3. The family lived in Mohammadpur, Dhaka.
Farzana Matin, Afsana’s sister and a schoolteacher, said the family had checked into Tuptup Resort in Patuartek.
“They have remained missing since the fire incident. We still do not know what happened to them,” she said.
DNA tests needed to identify victims
The bodies of 10 people killed in the fire were kept at the morgue of Cox’s Bazar Sadar Hospital as relatives arrived to identify their loved ones and claim the remains.
Officials said DNA testing was needed because the bodies had been severely burned and the victims’ faces disfigured.
Cox’s Bazar Sadar Hospital Resident Medical Officer Subaktagin Mahmud Sohel said six victims had been provisionally identified, but the identities had yet to be confirmed through DNA testing.
The provisionally identified victims were Israt Jahan, 30,
and Milita Mehezabin, 23, from Banasree; Laila Jahan, 27, and Nafij Tehmi, 27, from Khilgaon in Dhaka; Fariha Kabir, 33, from Chuadanga; and five-year-old Faizan Ahmed.
The identities of the other four victims — two women, a child and a man — remained unknown.
Meanwhile, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) was collecting DNA samples from relatives of the victims at its Malibagh office in Dhaka. CID Special Superintendent (Media) Mohammad Sufi Ullah said several relatives had arrived to provide samples, adding that the department’s forensic division was working on the matter.
Case filed against 23; manager arrested
Police filed a case against 23 people over the fire, naming resort owner Md Tanvir as the prime accused.
The case was filed late on Saturday night by Ashish Sutradhar, a sub-inspector of Ukhiya Police Station.
Officer-in-Charge Atikur Rahman Majumder said four people, including Tanvir and Nawaz Morshed, were named in the case, while the remaining accused were unidentified.
Resort Manager Zahidul Islam, also known as Sumon, was detained at the scene on Saturday afternoon and later shown arrested in the case, he said.