A woman and her daughter burned to death and four members of the same family were injured in a fire that broke out at Jaflong in Sylhet’s Gowainghat upazila early Monday.
The fire broke out around 12:30am in Rasulpur village, affecting the shop and home of a Yakub Mia.
The deceased were Jesmin Begum, 30, wife of Yakub and their daughter Sumaiya Akhtar, 13, Yakub Mia, his mother, and two children, Jubair and Junaid, were injured in the blaze.
Locals rushed to rescue the victims and subsequently took them to Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital.
Locals suspect the fire may have started due to an electrical short circuit.
According to local sources, Yakub Mia had a grocery store in one room of his house and lived with his family in another.
On early Monday, after closing his shop, he went to sleep with his family.
Around 12:30am, a fire broke out in his residence. Gas cylinders stored in the shop ignited, intensifying the fire, which rapidly spread throughout the house, injuring all family members.
The locals promptly notified the fire service and local police about the fire.
On receiving the news, fire service and police personnel, with the assistance of locals, managed to control the fire after nearly two hours.
They recovered the bodies of Jesmin Begum and Sumaiya Akhtar after the fire was doused.
However, the exact cause of the fire and the extent of the damage could not be determined immediately.
Gowainghat Upazila Nirbahi Officer Tahmilur Rahman said that the district administration provided Tk20,000 for the burial expenses of each deceased and Tk10,000 for medical treatment for each injured individual.
