Owners of shops at Dhaka's New Supermarket have blamed Dhaka South City Corporation's construction work for the devastating fire that gutted over 1,000 shops on Saturday.
Md Shidullah, president of New Supermarket Malik Samity, said DSCC workers were working to demolish a bridge in the area.
They did not notice electrical lines near the bridge and the fire broke out when a bulldozer operated over the line at around 3am.
The fire service received information about the fire at 5:40am on Saturday. Subsequently, 30 firefighting units arrived at the scene and began working to control the blaze. It took nearly three and a half hours to bring the fire under control.
Fire Service and Civil Defence Director General Brig Gen Md Main Uddin confirmed that the fire at the New Supermarket has been brought under control but that it will take more time to completely extinguish the fire.
Currently, the fire service is carrying out damping work to put out the fire, he said, adding that the announcement of the fire's containment was delayed for safety reasons.
Firefighters were also trying to break through the roof of the three-storey market and enter it that way in an attempt to extinguish the flame.
The fire started on the second floor of New Supermarket, and the members of the Border Guard Bangladesh, fire service, police, Rapid Action Battalion, army, air force and Dhaka Wasa's water-carrying vehicles were working on the spot.
Shop owners rushed to the market after hearing the news of the fire at dawn, trying to salvage as many goods as they could.
Many of them burst into tears upon seeing their shops go up in flames.
Some were desperate to enter the market without any kind of protective gear to get the goods out of their shops.
Fire service workers and members of other law enforcement agencies were helping shop owners and employees salvage their goods.