Five members of a family died while they were sleeping while one sustained injury in a house fire in Chittagong's Rangunia upazila early Friday.
The deceased are Kangal Basak, 70, Lalita Basak, 60, Lucky Basak, 32, Sourav Basak, 12, and Shayanti Basak, 4. Autorickshaw driver Khokon Basak, who had been injured in the incident, had been admitted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital.
Chittagong divisional fire service station Deputy Director Anisur Rahman confirmed the matter Friday morning.
He told Bangla Tribune that two units of the fire service went to the spot after receiving information at about 2:00am. The fire was brought under control around 4am.
The fire is initially believed to have started from the kitchen of the semi-pucca house.
Rescue workers and locals said that the bodies of five people were recovered after cutting the window grill of the residence. Khokon Basak's autorickshaw was also gutted in the fire.
Khokon, an auto-rickshaw driver, lived in a semi-pucca house with his elderly parents, wife and two children. The three-roomed house had only one exit door.
Locals believed that the fire started from the kitchen stove and spread throughout the house through the large amount of firewood stored there.
Chittagong additional superintendent of police (Rangunia Circle) and officer-in-charge of Rangunia police station along with police force and fire service reached the spot after getting the information.