Fire in Fatullah madrasa library leaves 48 students ill, three in ICU

Forty-eight students who fell ill from smoke in a fire at a madrasa library in Fatullah, Narayanganj, have been taken to the National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute in Dhaka. Three of them are in critical condition and are being treated in the intensive care unit (ICU).

The fire broke out on Tuesday night, 10 November, in the library of Jamia Ashrafia Madrasa in Shantidhara, in the Signboard area of Fatullah. Initial reports said the fire started in the library on the second floor of the madrasa’s five-storey building.

Firefighter Ahsan Habib of the Fire Service headquarters said the alarm was received at 1:55 a.m. The fire was fully extinguished at around 3:40 a.m.

Partho Halder, a firefighter at the Kachpur Fire Station, said thick smoke filled the library after the fire broke out. Four Fire Service units worked to bring the blaze under control.

According to initial information, students of the madrasa’s Kitab department were asleep at night when the library suddenly caught fire. The smoke spread quickly, creating panic among the students. Many suffered breathing difficulties and inhalation burns in the dense smoke.

Teachers of the madrasa and others helped rescue the students and take them to hospital. Several students who fell ill while asleep were taken to hospital because of the smoke.

Dr Sultan Mahmud Shikder, a physician at the National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute, said the students’ airways were damaged by the smoke. So far 48 students have been brought to the institute’s emergency department, where they are receiving necessary treatment. More patients may still arrive.

Three of the affected students are in critical condition and are being treated under close observation in the ICU. One of them has been placed on a mechanical ventilator for breathing support.

Madrasa teacher Azizur Rahman said all the injured students belong to the Kitab department of the madrasa.

Some of the ill students are Arif, 22, Azizul Haque Siam, 16, Hasnat, 22, Naimul, 15, Yusuf, 18, Tanvir, 21, Khairul, 22, Hemayet Ullah, 22, Labib, 22, Ashraf, 17, and Abid, 17.

The Fire Service said the exact cause of the fire will be confirmed after an investigation. Initial suspicion is that it may have started from a mosquito coil or an electrical short circuit, but the specific cause was not immediately known.