A 22-year-old student and an employee of a motorcycle parts shop were burned to death in a fire in the Nathullabad area of Barisal city early on Tuesday.
The deceased was identified as Sajeeb Jamaddar, hailing from Nangallia village in Bakerganj Upazila of the district, and a part-time employee of Habib Motors. He was a second-year student in the Department of Electronics at the Infra Polytechnic Institute of Barisal.
Sajeeb used to stay inside the shop at night, according to sources.
Rabiul Al Amin, station officer of Sadar Fire Service and Civil Defence, said the fire began in one of the four shops on the opposite side of Zia Road in the Nathullabad area at about 3am.
On information, five firefighting units rushed to the spot and brought the blaze under control after around an hour’s effort, he said.
The fire might have erupted from an electric short-circuit in a furniture shop and spread fast to other shops, he said.
He suspected that Sajeeb might have died from electrocution during the fire.
Belal Uddin, assistant director of Fire Service said that they recovered the charred corpse of the youth from the spot and informed the police.
Al Mamun, sub-inspector at Kotowali model police station, said the body was sent to Sher-E-Bangla Medical College Hospital morgue for post-mortem.
A case would be registered in this connection, he said.
Fazlul Karim, additional deputy commissioner of Barisal Metropolitan Police (BMP) said that legal measures will be taken after investigation.
