NARAYANGANJ: At least 63 students were hospitalised after suffering smoke inhalation when a fire broke out at a residential madrasa in Fatullah early today.
Four of them are in critical condition and receiving treatment at the intensive care unit (ICU), doctors said.
The critically ill students are Yusuf, 18, Khairul, 22, Jobayer, 18, and another student named Yusuf, 18, said Sultan Mahmud Sikder, resident surgeon at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in Dhaka.
The fire broke out at around 1.45am at Jamiatul Ashrafia Madrasa in the Shantidhara area of Bhuighar, said Abdullah Al Arefin, deputy assistant director of Narayanganj Fire Service and Civil Defence.
He said the fire originated in the library and office rooms on the second floor of the five-storey building. It spread quickly because of the books and documents stored there.
Five fire service units brought the blaze under control in about 30 minutes and fully extinguished it at around 3.45am.
"About 1,300 students study at the madrasa, most of them residential. They were all asleep when the fire broke out. Many suffered from smoke inhalation, and several were taken to hospital," Arefin said.
The fire service suspects an electrical short circuit, but the exact cause will be determined after an investigation, he added.
"Four students are in critical condition and have been kept in the ICU for close monitoring and treatment. The others are receiving treatment as required. More patients are arriving at the emergency department," the resident surgeon said. - The Daily Star/ANN
