Three Bangladeshi nationals who were killed in a Srinagar houseboat fire in India on Saturday had gone to India for health checkups.
The deceased were Aninda Koushal, an executive engineer, Imon Das Gupta, a sub-divisional engineer at Rangamati Public Works Department, and Mainuddin, a contractor for the department.
All of them went to India on November 3 for checkups and to Ajmer Sharif Dargah and then went to Kashmir, said Lelin Chakma, deputy assistant engineer at Rangamati Public Works Department.
Aninda hailed from Mirsarai upazila of Chittagong and was a cadre of the 30th BCS batch. He was also father to a son and a daughter, he said.
Swapan Kumar Nath, Aninda’s father, said he left for India to visit pilgrimage sites and was scheduled to return home within one or two days. “The local administration in India has not contacted us yet,” he said.
The bodies were discovered, according to the police, several hours after the fire early in the morning destroyed numerous houseboats on the lake, turning them to ashes, reports NDTV.
The Bangladeshi nationals were staying on the Safeena houseboat on the lake, it said.
According to the police, the fire started at a houseboat close to Dal Lake's Ghat No 9 and rapidly spread to other ones, engulfing several houseboats.
Officials said at least five houseboats were destroyed and several others sustained damage.
The cause of the fire is still unclear, said the police.
