Eighteen gold shops in the capital's Mohammadpur Krishi Market were gutted by fire on Thursday morning.
Upon receiving news of the fire, traders rushed to the scene to assess the extent of the damage.
According to the traders, while some gold was salvaged, everything else in the shops was reduced to ashes.
Amir Hossain, the owner of Dubai Jewellers, revealed that there were 18 gold shops, with nine located in front of the new kitchen market and the remaining nine situated within the market. The fire ignited in the early hours, and because the market was closed, it was impossible to relocate the merchandise, resulting in substantial losses.
Shamsuddin, an employee at Alif Jewellers, said: "Despite being situated outside, we couldn't retrieve any items."
Abu Kawsar, the proprietor of Singapore Jewellers, estimated that his shop had merchandise valued at approximately Tk2 crore, all of which was completely destroyed.
In addition to the gold shops, Krishi Market housed various other businesses, including a kitchen market, clothing stores, food vendors, daily necessities retailers, plastic goods shops, crockery sellers, and rice stalls.
Shajahan Sikder, a spokesperson for the fire service, stated that the fire was brought under control by 9:25am. However, efforts were still underway to completely extinguish the fire, with a thorough search of every part of the market being conducted.
The Inter-Services Public Relations Department (ISPR) announced that the fire-fighting teams from the Bangladesh Army, Navy, and Bangladesh Air Force have joined efforts with the fire service to combat the blaze at the Mohammadpur Krishi Market. Additionally, the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has been deployed to assist in rescue operations.