A fire broke out at Bangladesh National Museum in Shahbagh area of the capital yesterday morning.
Rafiqul Islam, assistant director of Fire Service and Civil Defence, told the Dhaka Tribune that the blaze occurred in the gallery no-44 on the third floor of the museum around 9:05 am.
On information, five fire-fighting units rushed to the spot and doused the fire after half an hour of frantic effort.
The origin of the fire would be confirmed after investigation although they suspected that electric short circuit led to the blaze, the AD added.
When asked, he, however, declined to say anything about the loss caused by the fire.
Mahbubur Rahman, director (operation) of the museum, said the fire could not cause any major damage.
According to the museum website, the gallery was allocated for the artefacts of the ancient China, Korea, Iran and Switzerland as part of the world civilisation history.
In this regard, Quamrun Nahar Khanam, director general of the national museum, said: “The fire was extinguished soon, which could not bring about much damage.”
Meanwhile, Secretary of Cultural Affairs Ministry Ranjit Kumar Biswas visited the spot, saying a probe committee would be formed in the incident in which no causality was reported.
The museum was established in 1983, which is one of the biggest museums in south Asia region.
